Before we start talking about the halves, let’s inspect a full marathon for a second. The first marathon commemorated the run of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, who ran from a battlefield near the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. Pheidippides ran around 25 miles to announce to the Athenians the defeat of the Persians, delivered the message, then – according to legend – collapsed and died.
If you ask me, this story already sounds dangerous enough and makes me think twice. Even if a half marathon is only half as long, do you really want to accept that challenge and run such a race?
1. It’s a long run!
Just to be sure: Did you get how long a half marathon is? 13.1 miles!! Exactly. And now imagine you’ll have to run all of that. It’s already hard enough to run a 5K race, and now you want to challenge yourself with five times longer distance?!
2. Preparations are even loooonger!
Obviously, you’ll have to train for your race. Do you know what you’re signing up for? Even if you start training only three months in advance, you’ll probably still make way over 200 miles just training for Day X.
3. You’ll have to do lots of laundry
You train for a half marathon. You run a lot. You sweat a lot. Do you know how much we sweat? An average person sweats between 0.8 to 1.4 liters (around 27.4 to 47.3 oz.) per hour during exercise. Prepare your washing machine!
4. Your toes may turn black.
Yeah. Runner’s toes. I mean, who wants to risk something like that? You have to be crazy to voluntarily run such distances and endanger your toes turning black!
5. All your energy will be gone.
Literally. You run, you sit down and you won’t get up anymore. Every training session will take up all of your energy and leave you totally exhausted for the rest of the day. You’ll only be able to stay home and eat and sleep. Oh, but did I mention how happy you’ll be?
6. Running will consume you
It’s the first thing you’ll think about when you wake up. It’s the last thing on your mind before going to sleep. You’ll work your whole schedule around your training. Including your outfit for the day.
7. You’ll start talking about it – and won’t stop
Running will be your favorite topic, whether the people around you want to hear about it or not. “I’m going for a run now.” “I just came back from a run.” “I ran 8 miles today! It feels awesome!” And you'll tell your roommate, and your boyfriend and you'll call your mom, and your dad, and then you'll even tell that kid you’re sitting next to in Italian class.
8. Travel will be a pain
Traveling will destabilize your running schedule. You’ll try to squeeze in your training somewhere between an exciting National Park and an interesting city, but you’ll end up abandoning it somewhat in the process. And when you'll get back home, you’ll have to fight your way back to the performance your body was able to achieve before you went on that awesome road trip.
9. You'll start missing it
I'm not kidding. Even if you hated running so much in the beginning, you'll get addicted to it over time. Whenever you're not in your activewear on the track, you'll miss it! You'll start daydreaming about running and won't be able to concentrate anymore on classes or anything else you're doing.
10. Don’t you dare to get a cold!
Because that would be the death of your half marathon. Remember, runny nose, no runny feet! And you’ll be devastated lying at home under your blanket, dreaming about that damn track…
11. And then you’ll run it anyway…
…because that was the challenge you set for yourself. And you will be extremely satisfied to have accomplished your goal. It probably was a long process, but during this process you got stronger, you entered a new realm of fitness and your determination and focus are worth to be proud of. So maybe it's worth to train for that damn thing after all? I guess I'll see you on the track!
