Half Marathon Training

No, really, half marathon training. I still can't quite believe those words came out of my mouth. What's even crazier is that I uttered them in accordance with agreeing to run a half marathon. Me. Not one of my awesome running friends. Me.

If you would have told me 3, 4 or let's face it, 1 year ago, that I would agree to register, train, and compete in a half marathon... well, lets just say my response would have involved laughter and possibly words like 'crack', 'you're', and 'on'.

But, here I am 'googling' things like, half marathon training program and half marathon training schedule. I am ridiculously excited about it too. My half marathon is roughly 5 months away so I do have plenty of time to look over and select a training schedule that will work best for me. There are so many to choose from though. How do you pick a half marathon training schedule that will work for you? Well, I'm still working on it but I have it narrowed down to a couple of different ones. I would be very appreciative to hear from everyone on what training programs you like or don't like! Please leave me a comment to let me know.

There are a few things that I learned about myself when I trained for my 10k.

• #1 is that I have to have flexibility. I am a stay at home mom with little ones at home. I can't just head out the door for a run whenever I want and sometimes not even when it's scheduled ahead of time. I have to have a schedule where I can flip-flop a run day for a rest day in case one of my kids gets sick or my husband ends up having to work late.

• #2 is that one of my rest days needs to land on Monday. Sounds kind of silly, huh? I know myself well enough to know that Monday morning always comes too early for me. It's already a busy morning for me with taking one kiddo to school and the other to gymnastics so fitting a run into my morning routine just isn't realistic. The real reason though is because I like to have Monday to prepare myself for the rest of the week.

• #3 is that I have to make time for yoga. Every time I've trained for a race I ended up with some sort of pain. First it was my knees, then my hip, and last my foot. I've found that when I do yoga regularly with my running, I have a lot less pain. I stretch before and after all my runs now.

  
  

I will be sure to post the half marathon schedule that I end up deciding on. In the mean time, I'd love to hear what has worked for those of you who have already conquered a half marathon!

So, which half marathon is getting my half marathon virginity? The Bayshore Half Marathon in Traverse City, Michigan. My key points in selecting a half marathon course were flat and pretty... like Kate Hudson. This flat trail course runs along the coast of Lake Michigan and the views are said to be spectacular. There was one other awesome component though. I wanted to run it with friends. I was able to fill all of my requirements. I'm not running it with just any old friends, oh no, I'm running it with my favorite person in the world who also happens to be my husband and also with one of my most inspiring friends, Jess, from www.runwithjess.com.

Jess has not only been a huge inspiration to me as a friend but also as a runner. She's amazing and I often refer to her lovingly as a cyborg. She does it all. She's a mom, she works, she bakes amazing cupcakes, she runs marathons, she blogs, (she's even blogged about me), you name it she's done it. Plus her house is always so freaking clean, which irritates and inspires me equally. :)

But the really cool thing? Jess was with me last year when I ran my first 5k. It was the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure.

Bekah and Jess ~ Race For The Cure 2011

Danyelle, Bekah, Jess ~ Steamboat 2011

Bekah, Jess, Steph ~ Pumpkin Classic 10k

(you'll be seeing more of Steph soon!)

In fact, Jess has been with me at every race I've ran. It's only fitting, and freaking awesome, that I will be running my first half marathon with her. She also happens to be one of my Sole Sisters which means we get to run together on a fairly regular basis. Jess is going to be training for several half marathons, her second marathon, and a triathlon this year. I'm really excited to see and be inspired by everything she accomplishes in 2012!

My husband and I, along with Danyelle and two other friends, Kristen and Brandon, have teamed up for a weight loss challenge. It starts today, January 7^th. This is the prequel to my half marathon training. It's 55 days of exercising and eating healthy or what I like to think of as my own special variety of hell. Just what I need to start off a great year! There will definitely be more written about it once it is underway. (along with some award winning photos...)

Until then, run happy!

Peace, love, happiness,

~Bekah