I started running "for fun" awhile back.
I think "for fun" are the wrong words to use.
It was more like "for self-imposed torture [masochism, training, whatevs]".
I needed to lose some post-preggo pounds and running gives you a pretty decent time/calories-burnt rate. It wasn't just for the fat, though! It was for that whole cardiovascular endurance nonsense you have to do a crapload of ballroom dancing.
I kept running about two or three miles a few times a week. Then I started getting bored. Not that the 5K got easier...
But I also plateaued (looks like too many vowels, doesn't it?) in the weight loss category, so I needed something new.
My friend, America, sent me an email with race info about a 7K thing and I didn't even know that was a thing and that thing sounded great and much less daunting than a 10K thing, which just sounded ridiculous about three months ago. Plus, this 7K thing had awesome sweatshirts as part of the registration goodies and I'm all about goodies when they include thumbholes.
We followed the training schedule that Team Ortho (the 7K organizers) had strangely included on their webpage. Really? A training schedule for a 7K? I guess once you go over 5K, you're in the big leagues. With schedules and spreadsheets and tapering and stuff.
Meanwhile, I decided for reals to do the TC Marathon in October and reverse engineered that I should do a half marathon somewhere along the way, so I signed up for this one in May.
Basically, if I pay money for a run has to be really pretty or have awesome perks so I can forget I've been running for two hours straightand just be numbed into a jogging stupor looking at the shiny lake next to me or awaiting the delicious Gatorade in the finisher's tent or whatever.
For the marathon, I suppose I'll follow an actual training regimen. I hear this one is good. But for the half, I made up this one...
Yes, those numbers are the miles I run on those days.
It leaves off where the 7K schedule stopped and it hasn't been horrible. So, maybe I won't die when I try 13.1. Let's be optimistic.
Go forth and conquer.
