I may be slightly insane

A friend posted this link a couple days ago:

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/tennessee

In case you don't feel like following the link, it's a relay race.  A 196-mile relay race.  And I'm actually seriously considering signing up.

If you know me at all you know how ridiculous this is.  I've done a couple of 5-K races, but usually with reluctance and a great deal of mental swearing.  The last one I only did because my sister needed a running partner.

But this looks... well... fun.  The thing is, you're running with a team of 11 other runners, and the most anyone runs is 20 miles, broken up into 3 sections.  The website also has a detailed training schedule posted, which would help a lot.  And the next one in our area isn't until next November.  I'd have a whole year!

So, I've decided I'm going to work on the training schedule.  Even if I don't end up doing the race itself for some reason - scheduling issues, or not getting a team together - it gives me something to work towards and a definite goal.   Also - a nice side effect - it will help me get into better physical shape.  The race website recommends that every participant be able to keep up an 11-minute mile pace, so that's another goal.  I'm also going to try to do at least two 5-K races between now and then, and work towards running a consistent 11-minute mile pace throughout the race.

Towards that end, I went out running this evening.  I gave myself 20 minutes and managed 1.7 miles (according to mapmyrun.com), which works out to an 11:45 pace... not too bad!  Of course I don't think I could have gone another step, so we've still got a long way to go :-)

I won't belabour the point on this blog - it's not mainly about exercising - but I'll probably mention it every now and then.  I wanted to post about it initially as a motivation factor; if other people know about my goals, then I'm more likely to keep to them!