And So It Begins...

I *officially* began training for my half-marathon this morning. It's 12 weeks out, and so it's time! Of course, I've been doing my regular exercise thing up until this point but now my focus will definitely need to shift to building up my running strength and endurance.

I found this great training schedule here.  My friend Christy used this website when she trained for the Atlanta half-marathon and found it to be very easy to follow and good preparation.

So, why did I decide to run a half-marathon? Well, it was one of my New Year's resolutions.  Mostly, though, I just want to see if I can do it. As with the Peachtree Road Race, my only goal is to run the entire half-marathon. I'm not interested in times and such. And, oh yeah. I want that 13.1 sticker for my car, too. :)

The one I ended up registering for is the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. It's November 10th, and the race course takes you through the oldest military park in the nation. I think it's going to be hilly, and beautiful. Hopefully the beauty will distract me from the hills! Also, Paul and I have a yearly tradition of taking a fall trip up to Chattanooga for a weekend away...so it works out perfectly. I'll be there, so why not run a race while I'm there! :)

I've mixed up the schedule above a bit to fit my routine, but otherwise I'll keep the mileage goals the same. I'm going to train 50/50...50% treadmill and 50% road running. This morning I decided to try a route which took me from my house to the closest Silver Comet access (1 mile). My goal was 1 mile to the trail, 1 mile on the trail, 1 mile back home. I ended up doing an extra mile because I felt so good. So, around 40 minutes total time and 4 miles. Not bad! I did learn that the Silver Comet at that time of morning (around 7) is still pretty dark and deserted, so I'll save that route for the weekends when I do longer, later runs. 

My friend Allison is lending me her double jogging stroller so I'll be able to train with the boys, although I'm sure that pushing their combined weight will definitely make for a more difficult run! 

Wish me luck! Thanks for all of the positive encouragement! Any training tips would be awesome, too!