Running My First Half Marathon

OK, so I've never ran a race, ever. Not 5K and definitely not a half marathon. I was never a fan of jumping, and running is like constant jumping to me. Then there is the boring factor, the scenery may change house, trees, people, house, trees, people, house trees people, dog, house, trees, people.

In January of 2009, my sister ran her first half marathon with teams in training at Disney World. She had never ran a race either. Teams In Training trained her well, she finished in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Not bad for never running a race before.

When she started, she told me about Robert Ullrey's couch to 5K podcast . I put on my strongest bra, CD player in my pocket (no I didn't even own a MP3 player at the time) and away I went. I did well. I made it to week 6, then it got cold and I stopped running.

I have ran on and off since but with no consistency, sooooo I signed my dear hubby and I up for the Disney World Half Marathon for January 2011. I wanted to start my training last week but we got slammed with not but two blizzards. So my start date is Valentine's Day. Isn't it romantic? I say in a sing song voice. I am not doing it with Teams in Training (I don't think I can raise that much money). This is on my own.

Here's the plan:
1. Follow couch to 5K 9-week podcast by Robert Ullrey
2. Run my first race, a 5K for the local women's shelter
3. Run/jog for additional 4-5 weeks.
4. Begin 10-week half marathon training.
5. Run a 10K somewhere in there.
6. After 10-week training, just try to get my time up.

I have to be over a 16 minute mile. I know I can do a 20 minute mile by walking fast, so 16 minute mile doesn't sound so bad.