Proposed Upcoming Race Schedule

I sat down today and gave thought to what upcoming races I would want to do for the rest of the year.  At first I thought I would keep it to one 5K per month.  Then, as I continued looking at the schedule I thought, hmm...maybe I could do two per month -- you know, if they're good 5K's.  Then, as I kept reading through the list of races, I saw a 15K race that was definitely way too soon for me to be registering for, BUT, I saw that everyone who finishes gets...a MEDAL!!  Knowing that this particular race would be too soon for me to ever be ready for, I put it out of my mind and kept checking out other listings.  It was then that I found a race where you could run a broken 15K and you would get a medal, too!  And, the race is in mid-November, the PERFECT amount of time to train for it.    So, now I'm left with a dilemma.  Will I be ready for a 15K in mid-November?  Realistically, I know I'm just being taken in by the idea of getting a medal at the end of the race, but still!  I've been wanting to work towards running a half-marathon anyway and this would really help get to that goal.  It would set a short-er term goal as a stepping stone, almost, toward the half.  I'm still mulling this one.  For now, here is a list of the races that I'm strongly considering for the rest of the year:

September 11, 2011             9/11 Heroes Run (5K) -- Winter Springs, FL -- Signed Up 

October 8, 2011                   Greater Maitland 5K -- Maitland, FL

October 16, 2011                 Komen for the Cure 5K -- Univ. of Central Florida

November 13, 2011              Florida Hospital Founder's Day 10K & 5K* -- Celebration, FL

November 24, 2011              Seniors First Turkey Trot -- Orlando, FL

December 10, 2011              Reindeer Run -- Orlando, FL

February 26, 2012                Disney's Princess Half-Marathon** -- Lake Buena Vista, FL

Pretty ambitious schedule, eh?  Yeah, those are the races that I'd like to complete by year's end, not necessarily the ones that will happen.  (Frankly, though my work compensates me towards fitness stuff, I'm not even sure whether or not I have the money for these.)

It would seem that, at this point, I need to thin out the schedule a little bit and refocus.  Additionally, I was just thinking that, if I am training for the 15K, a few of the races in October may interfere with that training as the long runs for those weekends are supposed to be about double the 5K race length.  Theoretically, I guess I could just run the 5K course twice to get my training in, but what are the chances that I will actually do that??  And, really, I need to look at my long term goal and see what will really mesh with that before I sign up for too many things.  I think there may be a training class starting in October for the half-marathon, so I may need to find out more information about that prior to committing to these things.

This is so typical of me though.  I find something that I really want to do and I immerse myself 1000% in it and end up getting way ahead of myself.  I've really tried not doing that this time, but...here I go again.  I'm too impatient!  I just can't seem to take those baby steps I kept telling myself about previously.

*The race features a "Distance Dare" where you run the 10K first before starting the 5K with the other 5K participants.  Those that finish this 15K distance receive a finishers medal for the race.

** My ULTIMATE goal!