Today I’m beginning the 9th week of my half-marathon training program – over halfway there! That makes it even more interesting for me to go back and read posts like this one.

Here’s another entry from the running archives, back from the week or two before my training began. I’m hoping to be caught up to real time posts soon!

July 13, 2011
Buoyed by the success of surviving my first
race, two weeks ago I signed myself up for another one. A much longer
one. My first half-marathon.

In November of this year, I’ll run
in the Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon, and I’m pretty excited about it. So
far, about 15,000 people have registered and the event may sell out. I
cannot imagine what it will be like to run with 15,000 other people, but
I’m ready to find out.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been looking
at different half-marathon training programs and finally settled on
Jeff Galloway’s walk/run program. With only 3 runs on the schedule each
week it doesn’t seem overwhelming, and I like what he has to say about
the benefits of brief walk breaks.

My training program begins
next week, and I must admit it loomed large during my 30-minute run this
morning. When I first began running several months ago, I hoped these
short neighborhood jogs would soon be a breeze. But unfortunately they
are still tough.

Running is a real mixed bag for me. I love the
running culture. I enjoy talking to other runners, researching training
programs, reading and writing about running and planning for races. I
like doing something so healthy, and I enjoy the way I feel after a run – both a bit tired from the run but energized from having accomplished it.

But during the run – I struggle. One day I’d love to do a 30-minute run and find my mind wandering, but
for now I spend most of the 30 minutes thinking about running, about how
slow and clumsy and out of breath I feel, and whether or not I will
make it to the next walk break. My confidence is fragile, and when I’m
running and I start thinking about 13.1 miles, I get panicky.

I
hope that as I progress through my training program my confidence will
improve as each week ticks by and I survive. And maybe once I have a
half-marathon under my belt, the 30-minute neighborhood jog will seem like a breeze. We’ll soon find out.