I'm standing on the stage of fear and doubt*

Last night I went for a run on the Perkiomen Trail which is about 15 minutes from my hotel.  It's not a true "trail", it's more like a paved path for a few miles, and then a rock path for the rest of the way.  I am not a huge fan of paved paths, I prefer dirt paths, but unfortunately, the access point closest to my hotel is paved for about 2 miles (of course) so that's what I ran on yesterday. 

However, something great about this path, it's over 21 miles long.  And, if you want a longer path, it connects to the Schuylkill River Path and somehow to the paths in the Valley Forge Park, so you can potentially run a ridiculous miles of paths. 

I decided this is awesome.  One of the reasons I always hated training for half marathons (and partly why I never wanted to trail for a full one) is because there was nowhere to run over 20 miles (unless I wanted to run 10 loops in the park) without going flat out insane.  I didn't feel safe running on the streets of Virginia and the parks only had 2 mile loops (the one park had a 5 mile loop, but it was not the safest place to be). 

While I was running my terrible two mile run last night (oh it was such an awful run), I began to think maybe I would begin training for a half marathon and maybe extend my training to a full marathon. 

Then, I came to work and saw this article and decided it was fate and I am not meant to train for a full marathon.  However, I'm beginning to start looking for a half marathon.  I want it to be in the spring, somewhere that won't get above 60 degrees, and is relatively flat.  Any suggestions? 

I also need to get back on track with my hydration and sleep because I'm killing myself lately.  I can always tell I didn't drink water enough before running, because my right calf muscle starts hurting like my muscle is trying to tear itself away from my leg.  Worst feeling ever.  Which happened last night at mile 1.27 and I had to run the last .73 miles with my leg feeling like it was on fire. 

First goal, cut back on the coffee, increase the water intake.  (Hey, small steps...). 
Second goal, set up a running schedule that consists of more than 10 miles a week.
Third goal, join a gym with a pool and use swimming as a cross training to reduce the impact on my knee. (or just suck it up and use the hotel pool even though it's small and sucks and people I work with are there). 
Fourth goal, find a half marathon to run. :-) 

Now let's see if I actually follow through on this. 

*Arcade Fire