Five weeks ago, I finished my first half marathon. Four months of training came to a close as I crossed the finish line of the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Mardi Gras Half Marathon.
I was so excited during the training that I registered for two more races. I took a week off from running after the race, and since then it’s been super-hard to get back into everything—I ran more than 100 miles in January, and only logged 41 in February. I’m at 50 miles for March, but the month is almost over. Not training for a half marathon is a lot easier than training for one.
Last weekend, I was talking to a friend of mine who also trained for the half marathon, and told him that I could probably count the number of times I’d run since the race on both hands. His response: “What made you get so lazy?”
During my training, I was so excited by running that I signed up for two more races: the Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans on April 23, and the ODDyssey Half Marathon in Philadelphia on May 22. My other, slightly more arbitrary, goal was to lose 10 pounds between now and ODDyssey. I still have 30 days until the Crescent City Classic, and 60 days until ODDyssey. I’m declaring today the day that I’m back in action, and I’m going to write about the experience of training for my second half marathon (which might be even more difficult than training for the first one).
Last week I got two 6-mile runs in, and my goal for this week is to run 25 miles. I already got a 6-mile run in yesterday to start off the week, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up the momentum throughout the week and get back into my old half-marathon routine. Wish me luck!