Hi Sarah - Here are a few half-baked, half-marathon ideas

(My friend Sarah and I are talking about training for a half-marathon.)

You still up for it, Sarah?

If you are, here are a few that I have been looking at:

The Urban Cow is in October, and the best part about that race, for me, is that Fleet Feet Sports has a "Train for the Urban Cow 1/2 Marathon" training program that looks pretty sweet.

But.... The Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half Marathon, is on Halloween, and you can win an award for the best costume - which means, costumes! Fun!

Also, the Urban Cow is on the 3rd of October, so I'd imagine I could do Fleet Feet's training for the Urban Cow program and apply it to the Lake Natoma race instead.

Then there's the Buffalo Stampede 10 mile race in September. It is put on by "The Buffalo Chips," which apparently is Sacramento's oldest running club, and I don't even want to know how they got the Buffalo Chips name.

Here's a link to the calendar for local races for you to check out too. I've just skimmed it myself, so you might find something that fits your schedule better, or looks like it might be fun.

I've also been listening to the free iTunes podcast, "Marathon Training Academy" which has been awesome. I am adjusting my training game plan to include weight training and cross training, as opposed to jogging every day - a strategy that they say is supposed to guard against overuse injury, and burnout - but it means I have to pick up two new hobbies now, and, gasp, actually plan and research what I'm doing - but, ultimately, I think it's prudent advice.

Also, just so you are prepared, I really just want to stress that I am a remarkably slow - I'm a jogger - and sweaty jogger at that. I sweat a lot. You do not have to run the race with me side by side, we can just run the same race, or run/walk in my case, and I'll meet up with you at the end - and we can go out for a beer, or something. I think it would be hard to try to figure out if we are training at the same pace, without training together - but I think it's safe to say, that you're a probably a faster runner.