13.1 DONE!

[Strickland5]

My wife and I ran the Donald Duck Half Marathon yesterday! We were each hoping for a 10min/mile pace - which in retrospect was mighty aggressive for our first half. I got pretty close my official numbers can be seen here http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=119639375&rsID=122749

I managed a 10m5.125s pace which I'm super proud of. Heck there was a few moments in mile 11&12 where I wasn't sure i would finish. The run itself was beautiful as it snaked through portions of Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Running thought the park and seeing the various characters made for a great experience. I didn't but you could stop and get photos with various characters, which I plan in doing if/when I run this race again. There were lots of people cheering and even a trio of marching bands out playing, oh and a gospel choir too!

Disney did a great job with keeping us motivated and hydrated. Running through Cinderella's castle is an experience I'll remember. I'll post pictures and such later.

Woot! Half-marathon #1 done

[Grosby]

Well done! Big woots for you! Look forward to seeing photos!

[gugi9000]

I think you can be proud of your time despite your (aggressive) goal.

Well done!

[gugi9000]

Also, thanks for the inspiration. Your post got me off the couch and out on the road.

I just ran the 13.1 in 2:18 - turns out that the 10:00/Mile is a nice pace for me too.

[Strickland5]

Thanks folks, it was alot of hard work to get through those last few miles but nothing beats the pride of crossing that finish line.

gugi9000 - glad I can inspire, though if you ran that "cold" then you sir are a beast!

[The Tin Man]

You sir have made me more inclined to take up my sister's challenge and run a half marathon with her on Memorial Day weekend. Any advice for someone who has 19.5 weeks to get into running form for the first time in 8 years?

[KillerGriller]

awesome, your first time is always memorable

[Strickland5]

Advice from me? Crazy talk! Alright here ya go

• Start slow
  My wife and I 'trained' for over a year and run a number of races with ever increasing distances before even thinking hard about doing a half. I followed a training routine that a friend of mine gave us. He's been running much longer than we have for a while and combined a few routines I'm sure. You can see it here.
  
• Get the right shoes!
  Don't train in old sneakers as they won't do your efforts any justice. I'm fortunate to have a great local company (Big Peach Running Company!) that took the time to check my stride and balance to help better fit my needs - I didn't know I had a pronator
  
• Stick with it
  Sometimes its hard to get into the gym but if you stick with it you'll find yourself not making excuses.
  
• Recovery is as important as training
  Spend time on recovery. You will be doing yourself a disservice if you don't look into what you need for recovery. I use compressions and will soon be picking up the 110% Ice compressions
  
• Cross train
  Do SOMETHING other than running as you shouldn't run everyday. If can be crossfit, lifting, biking, swimming or anything just mix up the work out.
  
• Get a partner
  Training with someone does two things - 1 keeps you accountable, 2 makes it more fun
  

And that's all I can think of so hopefully it was helpful.

[Strickland5]

Photos!

Or you can find them here

[Ryan Sannar]

Congrats! That sounds like a ton of fun. I didn't even know they did that.

[gugi9000]

Awesome pictures!

What do you mean cold? I did no prior training or warm-up for that matter, so I guess it was cold in either case.

Also I had no DOMS - yay! :-)