Am I Crazy?

Sometimes I think so.  If you know me you know that I started running after my mission in Russia from 2004-2006.  My last companion was a runner and she got me into it.  I kept running off and on since coming home until I got married and was going to school and just wasn't very dedicated to running.

After Sarah was born and I had gained a ton of weight I decided to get back into running.  I did and I love it.  My first race was a 10K.  I loved it and was bound and determined to run another.  I kept running but never ran another race.

After Yana was born I got back into shape by running.  I'm still working on the last little bit of weight but it is coming off with the help of running and biking.  I have ran a few 5K's and I was training for a 15K.  Then I found out we will be in Idaho on vacation at the time of the 15k.  That 15k was going to be step towards running a half marathon the following weekend on November 5th.  Well I will still be on vacation in Idaho.

So I am still running and I found a race in Idaho on the 5th.  The day before we fly home.  It is isn't far from where I grew up and should be a fun race.  I want to run it.  The problem I have is I don't know if I have trained enough to run it.  Since adding biking to my list of regular exercises I haven't been running as much as I used to.  I used to run 4 days a week and now I run Monday's Thursday's and Saturdays.  I bike Tuesday's and Friday's.  Sometimes I have longer bike rides on Saturdays. 

Well my longest run lately on my Saturday long runs was 5.55 miles.  My shins didn't hurt at all and I haven't been sore either.  My knees have been a little achy and my calves were cramping a little towards the end of that but it all went away with ice.

Here is my dilemma.  When I was ran my 10k a couple years ago I had originally been training for a 1/2 marathon but my shins couldn't handle it at that point.  I hadn't really been running that long.  I had ran 8 miles and then couldn't run for 2 weeks because my shins hated me.  I have been running at least 2-3 times a week for the last 1/2 year and biking 2-3 times a week so I feel like I'm in good shape.  Always could be better.

I don't know the first thing about running that long.  Do I need energy stuff (gels, bars, beans, etc)?  Do I need a water belt?  What do I eat before hand?  These are the questions going through my head.  I have had this on my mind for a few days now and it is starting to slip into my dreams.  Last night I dreamt about about this upcoming race.  I need help with answers to these questions.

If any of you have any information please let me know.  I will continue my search for answers and let you know what I find out.