I just signed up for a half-marathon.

[coonskee]

Oh God what have I done. *hyperventilate*

(yes, yes, it's not till March but... o_o)

[Caution]

Now you can't back out! Hmmm.... that's a lot of running, I'll pass. Train hard though!

[Eth]

There's certainly something to be said for just jumping into the deep end as a means of motivation. I was still completely gassed after half a mile when I signed up for my 10k, but sure enough 14 weeks later I crossed the finish line. Obviously, this is over twice the distance, but eight months out (and probably from a better starting point)? You'll be fine!

[Sam]

Awesome good luck with it

[Barmacral]

A friend of mine signed up for a marathon 7 months in advance when he couldn't run very far at all. He successfully completed it after 7 intense months of training. I'm sure you can train for a half in 8.

Edit: Also, my friend is crazy. I don't recommend following in his footsteps.

[tonic]

You totally got this.

All you have to do is panic, come up with a plan, panic some more, follow the plan, panic less, then run some more, then sucess.

Actually you can already run 4 miles, so you have a decent base on the 13.1 miles. You totally got this, and we will be cheering you on.

[Librarian of Doom]

You can do it! We'll be your virtual cheering section!!!

[coonskee]

Heheh THANK YOU guys. Feeling better - I've never ever tried anything like it so it's definitely daunting. Actually, edit: I've never ever thought myself CAPABLE of trying anything like it, let alone succeeding.

Tonic, I aboslutely LOVE your method.

Thinking it over more has calmed me down because:

1) I'm running a 5k september 9th

2) One of my goals for the next 6-week challenges is to run 7 miles, which is great, because...

3) I've also signed up for a 10K mud run on September 30.

Once I get down to that, it'll just be a matter of sticking to the plan and training well to get to the 13.1 miles. And, you know, not letting the winter get to me. I will definitely have to see if there are any threads here about winter running gear for n00bs.

And Brendan: Yeah... not doing that. No way, no how.

[tonic]

It really works, ad in many different situation, just sub run, for things like study, write, clean... Its a great plan.

[Raincloak]

No worries. March is 9 months away. You got plenty of time to prepare for this. To run 13 miles you just have to keep running for a couple-three hours without stopping. No biggie. (Okay, it's a biggie, but not THAT big. You could probably march 13 miles on flat terrain right now, it would just take you all day and you'd hurt a lot afterward. So it's merely a question of practice.)

And by the way, there is no rule saying you can't walk during part of a half marathon if you feel the need. You can even sit down for a break, although I wouldn't recommend it 'cause once you sit, your muscles figure it's quitting time and they start to get stiff. The best thing is to just keep moving forward, no matter how slowly.

I'd worry more about that 7-mile pledge in the next 6 weeks. I mean, you can definitely survive a 7-mile run two months from now, but you might suffer the whole way unless you get serious about training NOW. However, if you are cranking out regular 5-mile runs by September, then a 7-miler should be no biggie, and from there it's not too far to 9 miles, and from there to 11 ... and from there to 13.

You do not actually have to do any 13+ runs in training, unless you are excited about your race times and want to practice pacing. However, you should at least make sure to do some runs of 10-12 miles so you know what's coming.

[WarriorAmy]

Awesome! Your goal has a deadline. You can do this.

And you know what? Even if you can't, you'll do your best, figure out what you CAN do, and have a place to improve from there. You'll get to run along with some like-minded people and have a great time. It's a win-win.

[Diezel]

Fantastic! I'm always excited to hear when somebody takes on running a long distance like that!

I ran my first half marathon in November. I think we trained for 16 weeks. At the start of the training, I was struggling to run 3 miles straight. So you'll be fine. If there is a running group that you can join, I highly recommend it. If you join a group, there will be a coach and the coach will make up a training plan for you. You probably won't be able to find one until December or January for a March run, though. It also helps to have people to run with.

Have fun with it! You'll do great!

[coonskee]

Thanks guys!!

Raincloak, I'm already doing 4 mile runs now (okay, with a few walks in the middle, but I CAN do four miles on hilly terrain), which is why I feel like the 7 mile goal is okay - adding a mile every two weeks should be doable, right? ... right? And yeah, I will DEFINITELY avoid sitting down - I know how hard it can be to sometimes start from even a stop when I need to take a drink of water (I have a nalgene without a sport top bc my mom melted my other water bottle - womp )

Good idea with the running group, Diezel - I'll look into it!

[NorthFloridaNinja]

Congrats!

For my first half, my plan was also to add an extra mile to my long run every other week (starting from 6). I hit 13 about a month before my race and tapered down from there. It worked pretty well. I finished in under 2 hours.

You've got a while before you have to start getting serious about training. My plan lasted about 4 months, and even that was a little long compared to other plans. In the meantime, you should probably focus on building a strong base mileage. If you can get to the point where you feel comfortable running 20 miles a week before you even start training, then you're going to do really well when you do start. So, I'd make that my first goal, unless you're already there.

Also, about stopping. Most races have aid stations at almost every mile marker. I usually stop every 4 miles to get a drink of water and walk for a few seconds. Even if I don't feel that I need it, I do it anyway to make sure that I stay hydrated and don't crash towards the end of the race. It really doesn't take away as much time as you might think, and probably even helps because you end up going faster than you would've otherwise. 4 miles works for me, 3 or 5 or something else might work better for you. Use your training runs to figure it out.

Good luck!

[BarefootDawsy]

Oh God what have I done. *hyperventilate*

(yes, yes, it's not till March but... o_o)

Don't worry, you're going to have a blast well done!

[coonskee]

Thanks

And thanks Eric - I manage around 12 a week right now, and I'm definitely going to be working on upping that stat. Awesome.

Less terrified, more pumped now. Hoorah!

[CalvinHobbes]

I just signed up for one in January! We got this