The Long Run

I've told so many people that I'm planning on running San Francisco's half marathon next year that I can't back out of it. Sure, I have almost a year to prepare, but I'm wondering if I'm in over my head. 13 miles is a long way to run. How am I, someone who has never been a runner before and who gets winded running across the street, going to keep my feet moving one in front of the other for 13 miles.

I started getting a little scared yesterday when I was on the San Francisco Marathon website. I was reading about the course (which actually seems really awesome to run across the Golden Gate Bridge and through Golden Gate Park), how many first-time marathoners there are, and how last year about 17,000 people ran the race.

The part that got me nervous was the time limit. If I run the first half of the marathon, I need to be able to finish in three hours; if I run the second, three and a half hours. I didn't even think about a time limit and what would happen if I couldn't finish in the time allotted. I just thought I would run until I finished. But, with a three hour limit, I need to run each mile in about 13 minutes. Yes, it's not impossible and many people can do it, I just question if I'm one of those people.