Last night I ran seven miles, all at once without stopping. I've never run that far before. The furthest I've run was five miles, I think, and I haven't done that recently. I've been running 3.5 to 4.5 miles three or four days a week for about a month now but if I'm actually going to run this half-marathon I've decided to do I need to start going on longer and longer runs. It's all perfectly reasonably sketched out in my notebook, with the weekly mileage and all that. It's just kind of intimidating to think about DOING it.
The thing that kept me going when my legs were heavy and my feet were hurting was the decision that I was going to come home and post that I had run seven miles and I didn't want to be a liar on the blog. So I had to stick it out. Which was actually not as terrible by mile 6.5 as it seemed at mile 1, and at mile 5. Anyway, thanks to you for reading, and therefore keeping me honest, and getting me into shape.
Let me be the first to say congrats on making it to 7 miles! As a former terrible runner and now Ironman distance triathlete (ok, truth be told I'm still a terribly SLOW runner...but at least now I can just keep running and running at my slow pace :) I assure you that getting that far is the hardest part... after that its smooth sailing up to 13.1 miles!
Posted by: jdz | August 02, 2004 at 04:54 PM
Echoing JDZ with congrats - you go! Before my knees decided to go cranky on me, half marathons used to be my favorite races. I'd say you don't need to go more than 10 miles in training, and you'll probably be fine on race day even if you never go farther than 8 or 9 on your long runs.
Posted by: mad | August 02, 2004 at 05:47 PM
Nice job! It's all about the baby steps - keep on stretching yourself and you'll be impressed at what you can do over a year's time. I'm glad you didn't set an impossible goal for yourself - and since I cna't be the first to wish you congrats on the 7 mile mark, let me be the first to wish you congrats on the half marathon I've no doubt you'll do.
Posted by: Scoplaw | August 03, 2004 at 09:05 AM
You're welcome. ;-)
I'll just sit here and be envious. I suspect you'll have the Half finished before I'm capable of running seven miles again.
Posted by: pjm | August 03, 2004 at 09:23 PM
digital camera free
Posted by: Hjlioero | July 27, 2007 at 10:54 AM