A few weeks ago, I was browsing Twitter and saw references to Half Fanatics. I was very familiar with the Marathon Maniacs which is a group dedicated to people who complete marathons within weeks/months of each other. But I didn’t realize there was a group dedicated to the half-crazy people. Once I looked through the qualifying criteria, I was ecstatic to learn that I qualified by running 3 half-marathons in under 90 days. I ran 3 in 43 days.(Reports here, here, and here) So, I contacted the directors and received my membership number.
Fanatic #5372 (Neptune)
Why would I be interested in such a group? Maybe because I answered “yes” to a LOT of these questions.
- Do your thoughts switch to the next scheduled race immediately after finishing a Half Marathon?
- Are you signed up for more than one race right now?
- Do you know specifics about many of the Half Marathons? Dates, courses, years run, etc.?
- Do you know the story of how the Half Marathon got started?
- Do you read books on running like Marathon and Beyond?
- Is www.marathonmaniacs.com book marked on your computer?
- Do you look at the race schedule more than once a week?
- Do you start to feel down when you haven’t run a race in a while?
- Are your closets and dressers filled with race t-shirts
- When asked about your racing from none running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking? Have you run races on back to back weekends? Or better yet back to back days?
- Have you run a Half Marathon as a training run? Or just to pace a friend?
- When asked by loved ones what your plans are for the weekend, you feel guilty telling them your running another half marathon so you tell them "it’s only a 10K this weekend"?
- Do you plan all your vacations around a races?
While I work next year on improving my half time and try to “moon up” to a new level, I’ll also start eyeing that Marathon Maniac goal. I’m also thinking about my first attempt at an ultra marathon in March. So much to look forward to!