road to the half marathon

Manish, the friend with whom I'm running the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon on Sept 28, proposed this preparation schedule, in order to ensure full physical and digestive preparation:

Road to the Half Marathon - Terms of Bet:

1) Each participant will give up drinking (exceptions below) between August 5, 2008 and the completion of a half marathon, tentatively scheduled for September 28, 2008 in Toronto, ON. If one or both of the participants cannot travel to Toronto for the race, each participant should complete a half marathon before October 15, 2008, or the bet becomes null and void.

2) Each participant is allotted a certain number of "Get Out of Jail Free" cards, whereby the participant can partake in > 1 drinks on a given day. Manish is allotted 2 cards and Rose is allotted 4 cards. Each card is gained by the participant running at least 8 miles in one session. Cards may be stored and used as needed.

3) Each participant is alloted one glass of wine (or equivelant) per week to drink at their leisure.

4) If both parties successfully meet these terms or both fail at achieving this goal, then Manish will fund a fancy celebratory dinner after the completion of a half marathon by both participants. If Rose completes the terms of the bet and Manish fails, then again Manish will fund the celebratory dinner. If Manish completes the terms of the bet and Rose fails, then Rose will fund the celebratory dinner.

5) Each participant will update the other on Sunday night, complete with training results for the week and whether any terms of the bet were broken.

I think I got the better end of the deal... though I did have to fight for those 4 cards!

This has, actually, been super motivating... I ran 9 miles on Sunday (WHAT??? yikes. I am amazingly hardcore.)

Thanks, Manish, you're the best