Must Keep Running!!

In my New Year's Resolution post, I mentioned training for a marathon safely and other race goals.

I got inspired by this post in A Little Pink in the Cornfields where she says she 'toyed with the idea of 12 races in 2012.'

Well, my friends, I'm IN.

Here are the races I'm planning on this year:

1. New Years Resolution Run (and...check!!)
2. Red Flannel Run 2012 -February
3. HyVee Half Marathon for JDRF - March, Fort Dodge, IA
4. Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon Nashville- April
5. Dam to Dam 20K- June
6. Twin Cities Marathon- October
7. Chocolaterie Stam 5-miler- October
8. Capital Pursuit 10 Miler- September
9. Living History Farms Off Road Race- November
10. Rock'n'Roll Marathon Las Vegas- December

I'm excited to be doing some of my first races out of town this year!!
I have family in Nashville so I can spend time visiting, sightseeing AND racing. Little mini-vacation!! I love Music City.

Two weeks ago, my pastor's wife asked me if I would run Twin Cities with her. It will be my first marathon and I'm looking forward to training with a group here in Des Moines.
Somethings I learned from training last time that I will keep in mind this time around:

• It is not possible to be running 25-30 hours a week, doing GIM 5 days a week and still bike and walk as much as possible. Rest please.
• It is not possible to eat like a 300 lb. body builder and expect not to gain weight. Have some self-control please.
• Ice and lots of stretching. After every long run. Every time. Sore or not.
• Sleep is very important. Get 8 solid hours a night and feel free to nap on the weekends when doing runs over 15 miles.

Also, this time around, I'm going to try and train organically as possible...meaning no protein bars, no gels, no chews. Going to carry trail mix, dates and fruit juices instead of Gatorade.

Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas is a HUGE maybe...I would love to do it, but it will depend on a lot of different factors- financial, work, etc.
It would be REALLY awesome if someone bought me a plane ticket and hotel stay for a birthday present....

I have already started training for the Half in March. I'm up to 8 miles on my long run and feeling really good. In fact, when I ran 8 this last Sunday I felt like I could have kept going pretty easily. This is a good sign!!

One other goal I have- finish a half marathon in less than 2 hours.
It's getting serious up in here....

Do you have any fitness goals in 2012? If you live in town...want to go on a run sometimes???