Picking my Half Marathon

Two weeks ago I announced that Sony would be "powering me up" for my third half-marathon. As a Sony Walkman Runner, I'll be blogging about my training and eventual run, using my new W-Series Walkman to entertain me and my new Bloggie PM5 video camera to record my experiences. The Sony people told me that I could choose which half-marathon event to do, which is like asking me what kind of laptop or smartphone I want -- the choices are overwhelming.

Living in the Bay Area, I'm lucky enough to have quite a few runs to choose from. In the last 3 months of the year alone, there are 27 half-marathons scheduled in various places around Northern California, all within easy driving distance of my home! My first choice would have been to do the San Jose Rock N Roll Marathon, the first half-marathon I ever did. It's a really easy, flat, shady course that meanders through the streets of San Jose. Unfortunately, I'm already doing a charity walk on the same day the Rock N Roll is being held.

My second half-marathon was the Nike Marathon in San Francisco, and I wouldn't mind doing that again. It's quite a hilly course, but with the great views, the Chocolate Mile, the silver Tiffany finisher's necklace and the tuxedoed hunks who hand it to you at the finish line, who wouldn't? In fact, the race is so popular that you have to enter a lottery to get in, and sadly I didn't get picked this year.

I looked over the list of the other events and saw quite a few I liked. The Disneyland Half Marathon sounded great because, well, it's in Disneyland, but I doubt if Alfie would be willing to drive all the way to LA and spend lots of money with Mickey Mouse for the second time this year, and besides, the event is in September, which wouldn't leave me much time to train. There are various half-marathons in wine country (the Wine Vine Run, the Grape Stomp, the Napa Wine County and the Healdsburg Wine County Marathons), but the courses sounded quite hilly.

I finally decided on a run that seemed relatively easy and undoubtedly scenic -- the Big Sur Half Marathon in Monterey, CA. It's in November, which gives me plenty of time to (pardon the pun) get up to speed. It's got plenty of gorgeous scenery, which will come in handy when I'm aching and tired and need some inspiration to get me through the next few (or many) miles. We can drive up to Monterey the night before and stay in some quaint bed-and-breakfast, and Alfie and the kids can cheer me on and see me cross (or stagger across) the finish line. It's going to be a great weekend, and I can't wait!

Disclosure: Thanks to Sony for sponsoring my registration fee in the Big Sur half-marathon. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.