The first annual Poulsbo Marathon and Half Marathon will be run this month, at 7:30 AM on Sunday, October 17th. I just registered to run the Half Marathon. I retired from running full marathons a few years back. After training for, and running 19 of them over several years without any injuries, I decided I should quit while my joints still worked as designed. I continue to maintain a reasonable weekly mileage base though, so half marathons I can manage without a major spike in training.

I'd like to issue a challenge. My goal is to finish the race in 1 hour and 45 minutes or less. For every minute it takes me over that time, I will donate five dollars to the Windermere Foundation, an organization that helps homeless and low-income families. For every minute under that time, I challenge you to make a donation to the foundation. Please let me know if you plan to make a pledge (wpaulson@windermere.com). It will motivate me to work harder!  If I beat my time, you can send a check to me made out to the Windermere Foundation.

To help you calculate your odds, the last half-marathon I ran was two years ago on a mostly flat and downhill course. I ran that one in 1 hr 39 minutes. The Poulsbo course will be more challenging. It starts at NK high school and will be an out and back course, with elevation loss and gain throughout the course.

I invite you to come join the fun as a participant or a spectator. In any case, I'll let you know how it went.