I've been wanting to try the Beach to Bell challenge (running the Virginia Beach half and then a few weeks later the Philadelphia Distance Run) for a few years now, but it never seemed to work out.

I was thinking about doing it this year, but I thought I was going to be out of town the day of the Philadelphia Distance Run. Turns out I had the dates wrong and I'll actually be in town. Plus I got $10 off registration because I ran Virginia Beach. And this is the final year they're offering the Beach to Bell challenge. All of them seem like very compelling reasons for me to give it a go. (Plus I've never run two half marathons only two weeks apart and not only would I get a medal for finishing the both races, I'd get a third, Beach to Bell medal, which would be awesome)

If it was all that easy I'd be registered by now.

But here's the thing. Philadelphia isn't exactly close to where I live now. So I'd either need to get a hotel, risk my car getting broken into if I stayed at my brother's ghetto house in North Philly or drive down from my parents house about 45 minutes north of the city.

Driving down from my parents house wouldn't be bad, except I'd have to leave at like 4 a.m. to get to the city and attempt to find parking. I could find a hotel on Hotwire for pretty cheap for a night, but there's no telling how close (or far) that would be from the start and finish. Do cabs run early enough to get me to the start line? If they do, I'd totally go the hotel route and just pay a cabbie to take me to and from the race. That would be the easiest thing and probably cause me the least headache.

If the hotel is close I could just walk, but then again a girl walking the streets of Philly in the dark by herself, probably not the safest.

The only other drawback would be the lack of crowd support. The BF probably wouldn't make the trip and I don't know for sure that my parents could make it down easily and my brother doesn't wake up that early on Sundays.

I've never run a race without at least one person somewhere on the course cheering for me, so that would be kind of weird, and maybe a little lonely.

I don't know though. Maybe I should call my brother and ask him about the times that cabbies run. He's probably needed to get one at like 5 a.m. so he would know.

Anyyway, sorry for the random stream of consciousness of this post. I'm just trying to work it all out in my head. I'm a little type A and not at all good at planning these things this late in the game.