First things first: I’m calling this a Mother’s Day giveaway because I will select and notify the winner shortly after Mother’s Day — but it isn’t in any way limited to moms. All ladies are welcome! (And so are the dudes, in fact: by all means, read on!)
“Oh, it’s only a half”
I often say that the half marathon is my favorite distance to race. It’s just long enough to pose a challenge and require training, but not long enough to destroy my legs and ground me for weeks.
Heck, you could do 13.1 miles for your long run and still feel the satisfaction of having covered an admirable distance — even if no one gave you a finishers medal for it.
Except for one detail: I feel like calling it a “half” kind of diminishes the accomplishment. Oh, it’s only a half. How many times has someone asked you if you’re training for a marathon and you’ve said that? (I feel particularly irked at myself for saying those words when people ask me if I’ve done an Ironman. “No, I’ve only done a few halves.” We race for 70.3 miles and then we end up saying we’ve only done a half — simply because a race exists that is twice as long? Why isn’t the 5K called a half-10K?)
As the ladies at Skirts Sports say (and I wholeheartedly agree):
13.1 ain’t half; it’s a whole damn race and a milestone we’re going to celebrate.
In this particular case, I’d like to celebrate Mother’s Day by giving one lucky reader a free entry for the Skirt Sports Virtual 13.1er (remember, we’re not calling it a “half”!), which comes with a $50 gift certificate!
Race details:
Distance: 13.1 miles
Place: Virtual or in Colorado
Date: the Colorado event will take place on June 14, 2015, but you can run the virtual any day June 13-16.
Run with friends, solo, or as part of another half marathon (er, 13er!) in which you’ve already entered to participate that weekend!
Registration (worth $85) gets you:
- a 13er Finisher skirt
- a $50 gift certificate to Skirtsports.com
- a race bib
- samples from race sponsors
The giveaway
Easy-peasy ways to enter, via widget below:
The winner will be notified on my Facebook page and by email, so keep an eye out!
And whether you win or not, consider giving an entry to this race to your Mom, friend, significant other – or, why not, to yourself! (At the $125 registration level, you will receive a $125 gift certificate, making this race practically free; and at the $250 level, your gift certificate will be for $275.)
Not only isn’t that half of anything, it ain’t half bad either!
My favorite (because I pr’d) is the Carlsbad Marathon half.
i think my favorite half marathon has been the Daytona half marathon because it begins and ends on a track
Ran Diva half last year with a bunch of MRTT runners, so fun!
Instagram follower @klundine27
My favorite half so far has been the Madison Half. I will be repeating it again Memorial Day weekend. 🙂
My first will be the soldiers half in honor of my son
Instagram follow
The soldiers half is on my list this fall
Thanks for the motivation and inspiration as I’m training for the 13er to mark a major milestone in my life.
Great competition, thanks Aleks!
I did two swim workouts this week. Only little ones but I was thinking about how fast you’ve got since you started tri training! Hopefully it’ll work for me too 🙂
Yessss! Hope to welcome you to the club of tri-addicts soon!
I love the halfmarathon. I am about to run my 35th!! I have done several…but maybe a favourite is Rocky Mountain soap Womens Run – its in the mountains…or one of the Rock n Roll ones I did – (Vancouver). And my hometown half – calgary!
I’m running my FIRST ever Half Marathon next Saturday the 16th! I’m super excited and nervous!!! 13.1 is really far!
Best of luck, Amy! Enjoy the experience and accomplishment!
Thank you so much!
From now on I will be doing 13ers and not half marathons!
I love the idea of calling a 1/2 marathon a 13er! My favorite to race fast is 3M Half Marathon and my favorite for scenery is Zooma Texas
A group of running buddies and I comment on the same thing “I’m only running 13.1 m.” I remember when 3200m was long distance and some days it still feels that way!