On your mark...

Hello world !

I've been talking about starting a blog to hold myself accountable for my training and this morning I decided to stop thinking and start doing ! After being inspired by my awesome friend Alyssa (you can read her much better and downright amazing blog here) today is the day I start putting myself out there. EEP !

A little background: I'm a 26 year old Jersey girl transplant here in Raleigh, NC. About a year and a half ago, I joked about running a 5K for the SPCA instead of volunteering for packet pickup.  That joke turned into me actually running it, and wouldn't you know it, I was hooked. Who would have thought that the girl who refused to run a mile in high school would actually enjoy it ?! After the 5K I started to run just for fun and thought I'd do a few more 5K's since there seem to be tons in Raleigh. Instead, I decided that I would try for a half marathon.  I started a half marathon training program, didn't listen to myself or my body, ended up hurt for a month and have been trying to get myself back for the past 2 months. 

That being said, I have currently hit a wall. Whether it's physical or mental, I can not run more than 3 miles in one shot. I have tried to push myself but either my legs, lungs, or head are just not having it. I try not to say anything, but after breaking down on a social run with a friend a few weeks ago, I realized that maybe keeping all this in and not asking for advice or help is actually making me worse.  So I've decided that it's time to stop focusing on what I can't do and start having some goals to accomplish things I CAN do. 

• I'm signing up for a June 14th 5K.  
• I'm signing up for the City of Oaks half marathon in November. 

That gives me 5 months to go from my 3 miles to 13.1.  I figure the 5K will be a good way for me to have a starting point so in a few months I can go "Look what I can do !" (thumbs up if you just did the Stuart jump in your head, high fives if you actually did it in real life) 

I currently run a 10 min mile. My goal is to run the 5K in under 29 min. My goal for the half marathon (besides finishing) is to do it around 2 hours. Depending on how training for the half goes, I might adjust that goal but I'm working on making sure I have realistic and attainable goals. 

I'm going to update this with my progress. Because when I get to the point where I feel like I haven't done anything or I feel like I'm not making any progress, I can check here. And I'm going to (giant gulp) share this. Who knows, maybe someone will read this and have some awesome ideas how to help on days when I need it most or realize that they're not the only ones having a hard time with something.

Now that all that is out of the way...here's the proposed game plan for the week !

Mon - Hibernian Pub run

Tues - Spin class

Wed - Run from RRO

Thurs - Off ?

Fri - Personal Trainer

Sat - ??

Sun - Pilates

Let's see what happens !