Hey everyone! If you read my post yesterday, you know I’ve got some big news that I’m dying to share with everyone. And today I’m FINALLY able to share it with you! A few weeks ago I discovered Amanda’s awesome blog, Shapin’ Up. Amanda was running a giveaway for the Love Run, which is a new half marathon in Philadelphia! The inaugural race is on March 30th and I was dying to sign up, but decided to enter Amanda’s contest first. I sent her a tweet, Facebook message, and email telling her why I love running and out of all the people that entered, I was chosen as the winner! I’ve never been so excited to win something in my life! I mean, how often do you win something off of your Christmas list? And how often do you get to run a huge new race in your own city? The funny part is that my husband admitted that he knew how badly I wanted to run this race, but couldn’t afford the race fee after buying me all of my other presents so he decided not to buy it for me. It’s the first time I’ve been glad that he didn’t buy me something I really wanted!
My husband and I at Love Park – the inspiration for the Love Run’s design!
Now here comes the tricky part: I’ve never run a half marathon before! My first half marathon is on February 23rd, so I’ll have 5 weeks between my first two half marathons! So any tips are appreciated. Amanda’s running the race and gave me great advice already, so I’m just going to continue training for the Disney Princess Half and see what happens. I’ve been told that Disney Princess is such a slow, fun race that I can use that basically as a 13.1 mile training run towards the Love Run. As someone whose farthest run is currently 7 miles (and who ate a lot of leftover Christmas cookies today), this is probably easier said than done. But I’m looking for a new challenge and something to keep me motivated throughout the winter months, and this is perfect!
Are you interested in signing up? Check out the Love Run registration page here! The race currently costs $85 but the prices will increase tomorrow so you’ve got to move fast! What do you get with that $85? A sweet tech shirt, a medal, a finish line party complete with a coffee and hot chocolate bar and soft pretzels (ummm what!), a personalized bib, free finish line photos, and an “I LOVE to finish” coffee mug filled with treats to eat at the finish line! Plus you get to be one of the first ever finishers of the Love Run and run a pretty sweet course through Philly’s best sights (click here for the course map)! I’m beyond excited to be part of the inaugural race and I hope I’ll see some of you there as well! And I’ve got to thank Amanda again for the awesome giveaway! Check out her blog here!
Have you ever run 2 half marathons with only a few weeks in between? Any advice for me as I train for both races? And who is going to sign up to race with me?
Mom in the Mtns 
Whoa! Congrats!! I totally entered this giveaway too, so you can color me a little jealous, but I’m super excited for you. You definitely deserve this after all the hard work you’ve been putting in.
Thank you! I feel like you know all the stupid financial crap we’ve been going through lately…when my husband told me he almost signed me up for this I was shocked because it was so much money and he was willing to spend it on a race that he wasn’t even going to do! I’m just so happy that I get to run it while saving some money 🙂
Congrats! That is awesome! I’m running this race too! I did two half marathons 8 weeks a part this year, and it’s definitely doable. I think for me the key was to treat one like a goal race and one that I was just running for fun. Using Princess as a training run is a great idea.
Yay! We’ll totally have to meet up! I have been reading so much about how hard it is to actually “run” Disney Princess because of the large amount of people and all the possible photo ops so I’ve been thinking about signing up for another spring half for a while. I don’t want to tell people my half marathon PR time is like 3.5 hours if I spent an hour of that taking pictures with Disney characters 🙂
That sounds like a great race–congrats!
I don’t think a few weeks between half marathons is a problem. I ran one in November 2012 and another in January 2013, and this year I’m doing one in January and one in February. I’m not sure what my training runs will look like between the races, but considering I’ve gone 12-14 in training so far, I think it will be fine. Just gradually increase your miles–I think 10% per week is recommended–and you’ll get there.
Thanks! And it’s so good to hear that people have done it before and it’s possible. That makes me feel more confident!
Girl that’s so exciting! Winning things like that can make you feel like you’re on top of the world!
Thanks! I seriously have never been that excited about a race before! It was a perfect pre-Christmas present!
Ahhh!! I wanna do this! 2 weeks after marathon though so unsure of my recovery but if I feel good and it isn’t sold out, game on 😉
I ran Princess last year then in DC 3 weeks later. Just active recovery and get back at it with training and you’ll be fine. Doing princess again and it’s just fun!
Awesome! I am so excited for Disney Princess, but I’m excited about having a more serious race to train for too. I hate how the Love Run website is like “Sign up now because it’s going to sell out fast!” but there’s no way to tell if it’s about to sell out. Disney had a notification on their website of how full the race was – I signed up when it was 95% full because I knew it was about to sell out! I hope you’re able to run the Love Run too!
Looking forward to following your blog and congrats on the Love Run win! My friends and I are doing it too as a team – Kickin’ Asphalt! Can’t wait. We have a bunch of newbies doing it too so I am so excited. Runners World Big Book of Marathons and Half Marathons has a training plan for when you are racing again in the near future. I used the 1/2 marathon training plan last year for 2 spring 10 milers that were within three weeks of each other. Here’s a link to the plan I tweaked for my own life and the plan for the next three weeks. If you get a chance to look at the book, I am pretty sure they have a “Race again in 5 weeks” plan, or at least a 4 week plan. http://gojackie.wordpress.com/training/872-2/
Awesome! That’s actually how I found your blog 🙂 I’m trying to find other people running the Love Run! That race plan definitely looks doable. I’m pretty jealous you did Broad Street, I was going to try it last year but it was only a few weeks before my wedding and I knew it was going to be tough to train for that. I’m hoping I can get in this year!
Oh, you would love Broad Street. It is so darn crowded and the logistics are just awful, but once you get to the starting line and it’s go-time, it is AMAZING!! Gosh, I love running in Philly! I checked out the Love Run map you posted and am very excited about the course being different than the Rock and Roll 1/2 (another fun Philly run!).
Congratulations! I’m running Princess Half again this year! Last year I used this training plan: http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/ewwos/pdf/rundisney/training-programs/2014/Princess14_Fin.pdf
And this year I just went with my own: http://undercoverdiva-asitcom.blogspot.com/2013/12/disney-princess-half-marathon-training.html
Hope to see you there!!
Thanks! I love the plan you came up with yourself, it definitely looks doable. I unfortunately missed my long run last weekend (the last week of running has been a mess but I still haven’t broken my run streak!) but I should be up to 8 miles soon so I’ll be slightly behind that training plan. Thanks so much for sharing!
Congratulations!! That is so awesome 🙂 I am jealous! I just ran 6 miles today…and it is the longest I have ever run at one time! And my first half is in March…looks like we are on the same page basically!
Thanks! Isn’t it fun running new distances through training? When I ran 7 miles I was so proud, I can’t wait until I’m running 13! What half are you running?
It’s so fun! Although my achilles are killing me today 😦 But I’m so impressed with myself and I can’t wait to keep training! I’m running the Rock’nRoll DC 1/2 in March.
Whaaaaaaat?? So cool! Congrats! You are going to do great. I would love to run this one just for the swag! My first half was on October 12 and then I ran a virtual half on November 2 so not even a month in between. It worked out fine. Pretty soon you’ll be running 10+ miles just for the heck of it. 🙂
Thanks! And that definitely makes me feel better about training for it. Was running a virtual half difficult? I can’t imagine doing 13.1 at a race pace without a race atmosphere!
This looks awesome! I want that mug! I have done back to back halfs weekend to weekend and this year 2 in one weekend – one trail/one road. My advice, don’t run too much in between. Treat that time like a taper. Have a blast! Can’t wait to hear about it!
Thanks for the tips! I will definitely take some time to rest after the first one. I’m jealous of your trail running skills! I’m hoping to try some of that in 2014.
You are going to be AMAZING at both of your half marathons, I have no doubt! I’ll be doing the AC half and then the Nike Women’s DC half only a couple of weeks apart so I totally understand where the nerves come in. But we can do this!!! Congrats!
Yay! I’m so excited to hear about all the people that are doing back to back half marathons! Atlantic City sounds like a ton of fun!
That is so exciting! Hopefully I see you at the race! I am running another half marathon a month after the Love Run, so let me know any tips you figure out!
I totally will! And we should definitely try to meet up at the race!
That half marathon sounds awesome with great swag, but holy expensive! Are halves in your area usually that price? I’m considering signing up for a half in May that’s $65 and I thought that was a lot. That’s great you got an entry into though! Good luck with training!
I think it depends on the company running it and how soon you sign up. I think this one started out around $60 in October but prices are rising quickly! Disney Princess was over $150! I don’t see myself running another expensive race like that again, but it’s on my bucket list so I think it’s worth it. But we also have much cheaper and much more low key half marathons in the area too. Where are you from?
yaaaaay!!! So excited for you!!
Thanks! I am now entering every single giveaway I come across haha
Yay! I saw the first time you posted about this race and considered it for a minute but it’s too close to another race I am traveling for and runcations are $$ and not easy with the kids. But fun- congrats!
I’ve run two half marathons with 4 or 5 weeks between and it’s totally doable. Take a few rest days and then get back into it. Princess is crowded and tons of photo ops so you could use that as another training run and race this one too. I never enter giveaways- maybe I should start!
You totally should enter more! I also won Pro Compression socks a few months ago which was probably the first time I have ever won something in my life. I feel like there are so many blog giveaways that you’re bound to win one!
Winning a race is perhaps the most awesome thing ever.
I agree! I hope I can give a race entry away in the future because it’s such an exciting prize!
Congrats! It’s always so fun to get that “you won!!” email!! I am not a runner, but get lots of inspiration from runner’s blogs and since I’m in Philly, I’ll be out & about cheering the runners (you!) on that day! Good luck to you!
Hi Kristen! Congrats and good luck with the Princess Half! I am also running the Love Run and like you I will be running my first half this winter. We should meet up afterwards and cheers with the hot chocolate! 🙂 Curious – what training plan/regimen are you or have you been following to get prepared?