Half Marathon Training

I think I want to document my training for the half marathon that I’m running at the end of April.  Mostly because I think I’ll enjoy looking back and seeing how far I’ve come since these beginning days. (hopefully)  And maybe so others like me, who think there’s no way they could ever run ANYthing, to see that you CAN if you set your mind to it! :)  (hopefully)

How it began:

Now, I am not a “runner”.  I am not athletic.  I never played sports.  Wait, I did play soccer one year when I was about 8 years old.  If I remember correctly, I think I often ran the wrong direction, and sometimes stopped and picked flowers on the field.  After that season, my parents never suggested another athletic team for me to join.  Haha.  I consistently worked out for one semester in college.  Other than that, I’ve gone to the gym sporadically (I can’t NOT think of Clueless every time I use that word), and I’ve started and stopped a handful of workout routines, including The Shred and Couch to 5k.  I never made it past stage 1 of The Shred, and I think the furthest I ever went in C25K was week 5, and that’s a stretch.  My preferred method of exercise, if I do any, is group fitness classes at a gym.  And I love spin.  As a matter of fact, I had every intention of starting spin classes back up before this whole half marathon came up.

Let’s go back to August-ish of this year.  One of my co-workers suggested that a group of us run as a relay team in a marathon coming up at the end of November.  Each of us would have to run roughly 5 miles.  I thought it would be a fun challenge, and a great motivator for me to get off my butt and start exercising, so I said sure.  I had every intention of training.  But then…I don’t know, I never made it a priority.  I went to the gym sometimes and ran on the treadmill.  The longest run I did was 3 miles, and it was a run/walk.  A few of us ran the Race for the Cure in September.  That was my first 5k, first race really, and I just wanted to finish in less than 45 minutes.  I walked more than I wanted to, but I think we finished in about 40 minutes, and I was so happy with it.  Running across the finish line was exhilarating and I had renewed motivation to get with it for the relay.

And then 2.5 months passed, and relay day came and I hadn’t run much at all.  In fact, instead of preparing, I complained about it every day at work.  How much I hated running and I wished I hadn’t signed up.  How running is so stupid and what was I thinking.  Two of my co-workers ended up getting injured and couldn’t run, and I said I wished that I had gotten hurt so I didn’t have to go.  Clearly I an a whiner.  Anyway, when we went to pick up our race packets, the atmosphere was so motivating and fun, that I was actually excited to participate.  (I think you can see my rollercoaster love affair with running.  Although, I wouldn’t call it a LOVE affair really, more like a tolerate affair)  Marathon day was here, and I went out and did it.  I completed just under 5.5 miles in an hour and 12 minutes.  It was hard, and again, I walked (a lot) more than I wanted to, but running across the finish line was even more exhilarating than the first time.  It was awesome and I was proud of myself for following through, even if I hadn’t prepared like I should have.

After the marathon (like immediately after), one of my co-workers, who is much more excitable than I am :), started talking about how she wanted to run a half next year for her 40th birthday.  And with the endorphins pumping, I was all “I’M IN, LET’S DO IT!!!”  Haha.  At work the next day, I told someone about it and he was like “BUT YOU HATE RUNNING!!  YOU JUST COMPLAINED EVERY DAY ABOUT THE MARATHON!!”  Which was so true.  I had complained every day.  Because I didn’t have any confidence that I would be able to finish.  But I HAD finished.  Maybe not with the best time, but it was such an accomplishment for me.  And I wanted to get better.

And THEN, that same day, my fiend Jackie mentioned that she and her fiance were thinking about running the half marathon at the end of April.  This is a different half than the one my co-worker wants to do.  And just like that, I decided that I will do BOTH of them this year.  At some point along the way, I think I drank the kool aid and I’m now hooked.  But this time, I’m serious.  I joined a training group that started over the weekend, and we’ve had 2 runs so far.  I plan to recap those later, this is getting far too long.  Do I love running?  Nope.  Not yet, anyway…I think I might by the end of this though….