Let's go Halvesies

Over the past few months I've been training for the biggest run of my life. I had decided (ignorantly and arbitrarily) to sign up for a Half Marathon. My first half marathon. What was I thinking? The longest race I ran was a 10K! That's only 6 miles, I have to run twice that?

Despite the better half of my judgement, I developed a training program for myself and was determined to finish my first half marathon.

My training schedule was as followed:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	Rest

Each week I increased each run day by a mile for the first month. I got up to mile 7 for my long run on Saturdays. The second month, the first two weeks I stayed at the amount of miles I had done at the end of the first month, but instead of a 2 min. run/1 min. walk, I increased it to a 3 min run and 1 min walk. My last month I made it a goal to get up to Mile 11 1 week before the race, without doing a walking pace the whole time.

This training schedule worked well for me because I was able to increase my running mileage, do some cross training for strengthening my other muscles while allowing my legs to rest, and was able to be consistent.

So how did I do? Well October 9th I stood at the start line in my corral. I was cold, nervous and excited. Moving around to keep myself warm, the shot gun went off and off I went. It was a really neat race. The Rock and Roll marathon in Denver was quite scenic. It took us through downtown Denver, and gave us a beautiful view of the sunrise in the beautiful city of Denver. I finished my race in 2 and 1/2 miles. This was a fantastic experience and I felt very accomplished.

I'm also very thankful for my wonderful husband who supported me through all of my training and at my race.

This experience has taught me a few things about myself: as I continue to follow the word of wisdom and eat healthy, I have no limits to my health; I can do anything I put my mind to; I know the power of mind over body; I look forward to many more races, and hopefully with my family with James; and most of all I can overcome any obstacle, I just gotta keep pushing and keep running. :-)

My goal is to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) within the next 3 years! For now, I think I'll stick with the halvesies.