In high school I ran long distance. I was never great, but I enjoyed the two mile and 5k races and even the odd 10k. After college I injured myself training for a 10 mile trail race (I pulled my lateral colateral ligament). The running shoes went on the shelf and managed to stay there for fifteen years.
Fast forward to summer of 2010 and I started to get the desire to run again. It began suring our family vacation to the northern California coast--I felt like running on the beach. What started as a few hundred yards on the sand turned into a semi-regular run during the rest of summer and into the fall. With my wife's encouragement, I signed up to run the "Run for Food 5K" on Thanksgiving Day. Life had been busy in the weeks leading up to the 5K, but I ventured out on that very cold morning and really enjoyed running again. My time: an impressive-to-me 25:16.5, which placed me about middle of the field for the Men's 35-39 age bracket. What was extra special about that day was that because it was Thanksgiving, my wife & kids, my parents and my mother-in-law were all there to cheer me on. Even more rewarding was that the race benefited The Jesus Center, a ministry helpng the homeless in Chico, California.
At the end of December I got a wild idea to run a half marathon (previously the longest race I had ever run was a 10K and the farthest I had ever run was 10 miles). So after some searching, I found that there is a local half marathon, the Bidwell Classic in Chico on March 5th. A little more searching revealed that there were a number of half marathon training plans that promised to take you from 5K fitness to the 13.1 mile race in 10-12 weeks. VIOLA!
I am now in my sixth week of a ten week training plan. Four weeks and four days to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment