Doesn't this sound fun?!

I'm currently following the training schedule put together by the training group I ran with back when I was in Portland...and well, since I'm running the Portland Marathon this year, it just plain makes some freakin' sense! But here is the hiccup in my plan. They have scheduled benchmarks that are based around some races. One of these is a half marathon scheduled in June. Yes, I know, I can always run a half marathon along the lakefront, but wouldn't it be more fun to actually go run a Half Marathon?!

I set out to see if there were any going on in my neck of the woods that same weekend. Here is what I stumbled across and immediately fell in love with the idea of: The Hatfield & McCoy Half Marathon! You run all over and around this highly infamous and disputed land of the Hatfield's and McCoy's. Plus there is a whole festival! I was all psyched up and ready to register when I began trying to figure out how I would get there and how much of a hole this was gonna burn in my pocket. Can I just tell you that this is not an easy destination to reach?! Here were my options:

1) Drive all the way. This would be about an 8 hour trip each way in my gas guzzling automobile. Due to the length of the drive, probably at least 2 nights in a hotel would be required. Expenses: Gas, Food & Lodging

2) Fly to Louisville for a fairly cheap price. Rent a car and drive the other 4 hours to get there. Again, due to travel time, probably at least 2 nights in a hotel. Expenses: Airfare, Car Rental, Gas, Food & Lodging.

3) Fly to Charleston, WV for a ridiculous amount of money. Rent a car and drive just over an hour. Could probably pull this off with just one night in the hotel since the airport is much closer. Expenses: Huge Airfare, Car Rental, Gas, Food & Lodging.

The bottom line here? My excitement came crashing down when it became quite apparent that this would be costing me a whole lot more than I can even remotely feel comfortable spending on a run. Maybe if I wasn't already going to have to spend money to get to my marathon, I could splurge on this fun little gig. But that isn't the case :( I will definitely have to keep this little ditty on the radar for the future though cuz I think it would be a hoot!