Felice, who blogs at The Happy Runner, decided early this year that she would run her first half marathon.

And she wanted all her blogging friends to join her!

And the Happy Runner Half Marathon Challenge was born. (Well, her second son was also born  — just four months ago!)

Felice’s goal race was the 13.1 New York City Marathon on April 2 — but challenge participants would play along at home virtually. We could either run the half marathon distance, or break it up and cover 13.1 over the weekend, from April 1-3.

Since I already had a 10-mile race scheduled for April 3, I gladly joined the challenge. Surely I could add another 3.1! At first I thought I may add some mileage before or after my race, but plans changed. I was originally going to do a local race not far from my house. But then a friend who was registered for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run became injured and unable to race. I couldn’t let her spot go to waste!

I decided I’d run my own 5K around my neighborhood on Saturday. I slept until I felt like waking up, and got ready to go! I did a slowish warm-up mile and then headed back home for a wardrobe change.  I’m trying to transition into my Newtons again. While I loved them, my foot did not. I don’t think the foot problem is gone, and I probably need new orthotics, but I still want to try to very, very slowly to ease into them again!

Anyway, I swapped out my shoes and changed shirts because it was a lot warmer out than I expected. Excellent! A few more loops through my neighborhood and I was done.  Not a particularly fast 5K, but I got it done in 31:12.

I had a very early wake-up call on Sunday so that I could meet my friends and travel into DC for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I decided I’d run this slow with my friends rather than try to race it.  My regular running partner’s sister was running her first race in about 10 years, and was very undertrained fro the distance. But she insisted on running the whole time (we tried to talk her into Galloway run/walk), only walking at water stops. She did great!

My finish time was 1:56:05. Not bad. It’s quite enjoyable taking your time to enjoy such a scenic course. I took some photos along the way, and was surprised that some of them came out OK! (They’re usually a blurry mess.)

I even managed to snap a self-portrait while running. I don’t do this a lot, and was surprised I didn’t cut off my head!

When we add my 5K and 10-miler together for my Happy Runner Half Marathon, my total time is 2:27:17.  Thanks to the Goofy Challenge last year, that’s not even my slowest half marathon!

Felice totally rocked her half marathon, beating her A goal by almost two minutes and finishing in a speedy 1:49:26.

Congratulations Felice and Happy Runner Challenge participants!

I picked up a flier for this race last month — a fundraiser for Back on My Feet. There was still time to meet the early registration deadline — only $15! Support a great organization and run an affordable half marathon? I was in!

I only had a few weeks to prepare, but I was in OK shape. I had already run one nine-miler this year and had time for a couple 10s and an eight. I wasn’t expecting a fast race, I just wanted to run!

The course was on the NCR Trail, which is really beautiful. It’s a packed-dirt trail surrounded by trees, much of it runs along a river. I worried that the different surface might be a problem since I typically only run on asphalt.  We trained for our first marathon there a few times, and I remembered it being a bit tougher on the legs!

I woke up to a good forecast and 56 degrees. It looked like it was supposed to be a little cooler at the start, but I decided I’d be fine in a running skirt. I wore calf sleeves so there really wasn’t too much bare leg! I was also excited my Cupcake Marathon shirt arrived in time.

Unfortunately I neglected to check the weather where we would actually be racing. It was only 49 at the start, and I needed to add a layer.  My Cupcake shirt was hidden the whole race …

Oh well. I did get a few compliments on my skirt!

Anyway, back to the race. While a little chilly waiting at the start, it was fun chatting with my friends. I’ve gotten used to really big races, so it was nice doing such a low-key race for a change. My bib was number 18!

I didn’t have high expectations for this race, but it started out really well. I felt great the first five miles or so, but after that I felt myself slowing down. It seemed like this relatively flat trail started going ever-so-slightly uphill …

Yeah, well now I see why it felt like we were going uphill for most of the race!

The calf sleeves did their job and my lower legs felt great, but I sure could have used some compression shorts! Ouch.

I was definitely feeling it after eight or so miles. I could feel myself slowing down and my form suffering — not that it’s that great to begin with! I’d pick up my feet and focus, and actually it felt better. I was able to  pick up the pace.

A  little.

I’m still happy with my unofficial result. Still managed to sneak in under 10-minute miles!

Post-race there was a nice selection of fruit, bagels and snacks.  They also kept the hot coffee flowing — all the better to fill the travel mugs we got instead of T-shirts or medals. We also got a reusable grocery bag as our goodie bag, and they had lots of great random prizes. I won a hat and a $15 RoadID gift certificate!

Sure it was small, and the crowd support was minimal. But the race organizers were energetic and the volunteers cheered everybody on. I saw a lot of support for the BOMF participants. Everyone was having a great time!

There was a lot of time running by myself. Enjoying perfect weather. Surrounded by lovely views.

And that was awesome.

I did not want to run tonight.

It’s been raining all day. Our group has gotten so small through the winter that most of the time it’s just been two of us, and I was kind of hoping my reliable partner would call it quits.

But this afternoon, I got his usual email planning our meeting point to run tonight. We reluctantly decided that as long as we didn’t have thunderstorms, we would go for it.

The rain had slowed to a light drizzle when I left my office, and the temperature was comfortable, in the mid-50s. Maybe this run wouldn’t be so bad!

As I parked and walked to our meeting spot downtown, the rain started to pick up. And while we stretched under a store awning, the wind started whipping. Uh oh.

We stretched a little, delaying our start by a few more minutes. I think my friend was hoping it would get worse so we could cancel the run after all. But we were there, and I was already wet from my walk from the parking lot. I wanted to go! And actually, the wind and rain did seem to die down a little bit.

We tried to take our usual route from downtown Annapolis over the Eastport bridge, but we had to change our plans.

The normal route:

Thanks to the all-day rain storm, the tide rose a little too high. Water flooded the street and sidewalk before the Eastport bridge, so we had to turn around and head to higher ground.

We narrowly avoided the water overflowing at the city dock, too, and headed away from town.

We had no trouble with flooding the rest of the way, but we were not safe from puddles! Despite my head lamp, I stepped in quite a few. I was wearing a newish pair of shoes, too. They’re not as crisp and white as they were before!

The rain didn’t really bother me, it would come and go. But at least it wasn’t cold, and my hat kept the rain out of my face.  At times the wind was strong, making it feel like I was running in place. My friend nearly lost his hat during our last mile.

At the top of Main St, we had covered our usual four miles, so we went our separate ways to our parked cars. I continued running and got to my car at 4.25 miles, but was feeling great. Like a kid playing in the rain! I added another loop to make it an even five miles. Woo!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a run like this. One where I just wanted to keep going!

I’m really glad I ran tonight.

Sing it with me …

Late last year, I decided I was going to run the Baltimore Marathon in October instead of Marine Corps 2011. I had such a great time at last year’s MCM and initially thought I would do it again, but changed my mind when Baltimore registration opened up in December. I signed up the day it opened!

I decided I wanted to focus on running different races, and figured I could always do Marine Corps again  some other time.

But I kept the MCM registration date in my calendar.

And I still follow the race on Facebook and Twitter.

And I was seeing status updates and tweets when friends signed up.

And then there’s this 50K I’ve been thinking about on November 12. No, I wouldn’t *race* Marine Corps … I’d just use it as a training run!

Still, I successfully avoided registering on Wednesday when it opened.

Then this morning, a co-worker came into my office and declared he was going to run the marathon. He is not even a runner right now, but is getting himself some new shoes this weekend and is ready to start training!

And then I looked on the website and saw “90% Full” this morning.

And I saw the status updates and tweets counting down how few spots were open.

And this happened.

Oh yeah.  I’ve lost my mind. But I may have found a theme song for my marathon training!

Who else is running?