I couldn't believe it. A flyer for a women's half marathon in September. And I saw it in May. Plenty of time to prepare for this goal. Which occurs two weeks before I am 40. Kismet!
I have been wanting to walk a half marathon for quite awhile, never quite being available for the April marathon in Nashville. But now it was fated.
So I began my journey to walk a half marathon with a click.
My first step - find a training program that would fit into my schedule of two short and one long walk each week. Easy enough I was surprised to discover. Now to log the miles on my kitchen calendar for the world to see. Make sure it doesn't conflict with any large weekend. Adjust for obvious conflicts. Again, easy.
Set a goal - a 15 minute mile average seems do-able. Ok.
Ready. Set. Begin. Now, I've been walking since, well, since I could walk. I have been walking for fitness since I can remember. Sometimes seriously, sometimes sporadically, but always able to pick back up at 3-4 miles quite easily. Training at those distances was going to be a snap.
And they were. The first few weeks flew by. Three miles, then two miles. Four miles, then three miles. Even five, not so hard. Did I mention this has been one of the hottest Junes on record?
I wont lie. Six was hard. I was hot. Sweat dripped from my eyes. The banana I ate for breakfast sprouted wings and flew from my system around mile 5. I used all the water. Lesson: Take a snack. Need more water. Need a bigger sop rag. Need to train in November. Well I can control most of these.
And for the rest of the day - I WAS EXHAUSTED! Spent! Drained. Needed a maid to cook my dinner. Honestly, it was more the heat exposure than the mileage.
The beauty of my program is most weeks, after a long Saturday, you drop back down to a shorter Saturday. So after a 5, I had a 3 before the 6.
As I play with the mileage to fit my schedule, I will be reaching 7 miles this week (probably Thursday). I am promising myself a bagel after.
And I will come back to talk about it!
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