The first run

So I checked out a training program, and it seems that I have decided to do this half just in the nick of time. 12 weeks is the standard lead up time, and I figure with the holidays, those don't really count. So starting now, I should be able to get this all sorted out before the May 5th deadline of the BMO Half.

By the way, have I mentioned that you can sponsor me? That's right, for only $25 dollars (or, like, $5), you can have a place on my honour wall and help fund cancer research, prevention, and support to people fighting the disease.

So back to the training. My friends at fitocracy thought that Hal Higdon had some handy tips. And I think I'm the perfect candidate for his novice 1 training. Well, to be honest, I wish there was a sub-novice category, but I think at that point I get warned against doing this. And I know that I can do it, I'm just curious about how much pain it will cause me. But I am. Oh yes. I am. Here I go. I checked out his training schedule and said, huzzah, tonight I will do my first long run. I skipped right to the weekend long run. I'm not sure why. I look back now and I don't think that I really needed to. Yeah. I don't think that was right. But whatever, it was super hardcore. I ran 4 miles tonight! Yeah! That's almost 6.5 km! I kinda freaked out when I realised the distance, but now that I've done it, I'm feeling pretty good. Final time? 49:55. I really wanted to beat 50 minutes... and I did.

Now I need to go have a bath.

I need some sneakers.

I did a silly thing today. I impulse committed. An email came out from a co-worker that we were going to put together a team for the half-marathon in May, and WOULDN'T IT BE SO AWESOME TO BE PART OF THAT TEAM. I don't actually think that she used cap locks, but to my bandwagon brain, there was no doubt. Ten minutes later my mastercard had enabled my online registration, and somehow, I kind of became the team captain as well.

This all sounds normal for a seasoned long distance runner. But alas, that isn't me. I like brief affairs with running. Weekends away. Maybe even a weekly one-night arrangement that fizzles out after a month or two. But a brief scan of training programs has me considering that a half-marathon may need more than my usual 'I'm signed up for a 10k next week, perhaps I should go and buy some sneakers' commitment.

This may take more work.