13 Weeks to 13.1 Miles

This coming Sunday will begin the 'official' countdown to the Lincoln Half Marathon on May 1, 2011. Typically 3 months is the desired training time for a half marathon - that is as long as a runner has a running base to work from. Some runners can train less and some need to train more, but I discovered last year that 3 months was about perfect for me.

Laura and I registered this week for the race...well, let me alter that wording. Laura and I registered this week for the half marathon. Yeah, it's still technically a race, but it's anything but a race for me. A race is when a runner toes the starting line with every intention to be the first runner to achieve the predetermined distance. For me, this is a 'race' against myself. Just finishing the 13.1 miles is a big accomplishment considering I no longer have time to run and actually training is practically impossible. So yes, it's a race but only for the first 50 or so runners - for the next 9,950 runners it's a competition against yourself and the demonic forces that all runners have to battle.

At this point, maybe a few of you are thinking "...but Nolan, if this is such pain - figuratively and literally - why even bother to do it?" No? You're not thinking that? Well, too bad, I'll tell you why anyway. I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself and having a goal to work for. Although I don't have the speed I once did in college and even high school, I still have the desire to push myself into challenging my body to do something - and do it a little better each time.

Last year I finished in 1:43:30 - I basically averaged 7:55/mile. My goal was 8:00/mile and finish under 1:45:00. Overall my goal was to just run better than I did in Spokane and I can definitely say I did that - adding a time goal was something I determined I could run after finishing a few long runs during training. It really wasn't a goal as much as it was a time I calculated I could finish within.

So this year I need to set my goal a little 'low' and push myself a little more. I've been pondering what that goal should be but I haven't come to a conclusion yet. To be honest, I don't know if I can run a little faster or A LOT faster. Maybe another six weeks of running will bring me to a point where I can judge my ability but for now I will be happy just running faster than last year. I'll just have to see how the next few months of training go.

Until again
-=Nolan=-