Rock N Roll Marathon

This may very well be the biggest undertaking of my life. I have signed up to run a half-marathon.

You're probably thinking to yourself... "Derek? 13.1 miles? Are you ready for that? Do you think you can actually do it?" And you would be perfectly sane in that line of thinking. I've asked myself the same thing over and over. But, somehow I have found myself signed up for this. So crazy or not, here's how it all came about.

My life-long friend, Margaret, posted a link on Facebook last week suggesting that a group of us old friends get together and run this. She thought it would be a great way to reunite with old friends while doing something healthy for ourselves as well. There'll be bands and other entertainment all along the race course. The race winds all around through some of New Orleans' most beautiful historic areas. Then after the race, there's a concert in City Park featuring Cowboy Mouth and Sister Hazel. Cool stuff.

To be honest, I half-way thought about it and moved on. But Margaret persisted. And then I started noticing others that were talking about doing it. And it looked like a fun group of folks. At least 20 years ago they were. So I responded with a "Maybe" and started mentioning it to Heather.

I figured she'd say I was crazy. But she didn't. So I kept bringing it up in conversation, and she acted like it was ok with her. Hmmmm.....

So the other night, I told her that I thought I really thought that this was something I wanted to do. It would give me something to work toward (actually a whole lot to work toward), and it would be a great weekend trip for the 2 of us. We've been wanting to get down to New Orleans anyway, we just haven't actually sat down and made the plans to go.

Then yesterday, we had a meeting for some City budget stuff, and the mayor asked if I was sticking to my running on a daily basis. I then opened up my mouth and told him about the 1/2 marathon. His face lit up and he got all excited, and then he started telling me about how he had run the full marathon in New Orleans last year and how much fun it was. He kept saying how great it was that I was doing this, and how fulfilling it was going to be when I completed the race.

Well even if I wanted to change my mind I'm not going to now. He's going to keep asking me about it when I see him and he's going to make sure I continue to train and prepare myself for it. Which really is a good thing. He's an avid runner, and he can probably offer some great advice. And I can sure use all the advice I can get.

I got online yesterday and registered. I'm in with both feet now.

So. February 28th, 2010. 7am. New Orleans. 13.1 miles.

That's where I'll be. Ya'll should come join me.

www.runrocknroll.com

Ya'll have a great weekend!