One night while we were hanging out with our friends John and Erika, I mentioned that I would be running 3 half marathons before my 40^th birthday.   John was quick to point out that the three do not quite equal 40 miles (39.3 to be exact).  I thought it was close enough, but I also took John’s words as a challenge to squeeze in another half marathon.

I had already planned to run the Pasco Challenge Half Marathon on March 12, Iron Girl Half Marathon on April 10, but now thanks to John’s prodding, I may also add the Florida Beach Halfathon on March 20.  I haven’t decided about the Florida Beach Halfathon because 1) It’s $70, 2) It’s in Fort Desoto which is quite a drive from here and I don’t know anyone else running the race to carpool with and 3) I don’t want to injure myself by running several half marathons in such a short amount of time.  The Pasco Challenge and the Florida Beach Halfathon are a week apart.

Later this year, I would like to run another marathon, like the Space Coast Marathon, but I also applied for the New York City Marathon lottery.  If I get selected to run the NYC Marathon, then I won’t do the Space Coast Marathon.  My confirmation email stated that the race organizers would be making their selections mid-March.  Not much longer now! To amuse myself while I wait, I’ve been singing lines from A Chorus Line.

God, I hope I get it.
I hope I get it.
How many people does NYC need? 
How many people does NYC need?
God, I hope I get it.
I hope I get it.
How many boys, how many girls? 
How many boys, how many…?

You get the idea.

When I train for races, I take it all very serious.  I cut back on all the drinking and junk food, because I worry about dehydration and shitting myself loose bowels during a race.  With having a baby, it takes a toll on your body and things just aren’t the same in the lower end department if your know what I mean, so my fear of loose bowels is quite possible.

But more importantly, with being pregnant and having a baby, it had been a while since I was serious about training and I guess my girlfriends forgot how disciplined I become when I’m training.  A few times when we were all hanging out, I hadn’t been binge drinking with the rest of them and they all thought I was pregnant!  BITE YOUR TONGUE! Not that I wouldn’t love another child, but that would really put a damper on all my plans to celebrate turning 40 this summer.  I’d like to do so without a hiccup, unless it’s an alcohol induced hiccup.

Speaking of hiccups, my friends and I celebrated our Gasparilla race achievements by throwing back a few beers at our local watering hole. I completed the Gasparilla Half Marathon at my goal of 2 hours, 30 minutes and burned 1, 349 calories in the process.  I definitely earned my beer!  (You can read more about the race and look at pretty pictures here.)

And on the topic of calories, I lost another pound last week which is a total of 21 pounds since January 1!  After burning over 1300 calories on Sunday, I can’t wait to see what I lost this week.  I hope I didn’t undo it all with the beer I put away.

Proudly submitted at The Un Mom’s Random Tuesday Thoughts, because when I blog about my runs, it’s usually pretty random.