Can you believe it!! I just ran my first half marathon Oct 14,2012 in the NWM12 in San Francisco!!! I went from laughing at the thought of this black girl running to running 13.1 miles!!!! Crazy!!! First of all, this is an extremely hard marathon to get into. It’s very popular. If your not part of a Team in Training group, the only way to get a race entry is via lottery. I tried in 2011, didn’t get picked. 😦 Forgot to try this year because I was moving and forgot. I signed up for the NWM26.2 Facebook page and would get regular updates about the upcoming marathon. I was jealous yet excited about those participating this year. I looked on craigslist for people selling their bib, I entered the Safeway 2nd chance offer and Zico Coconut Water 2nd chance offer. No such luck!! 😦 Doing my normal FB reading, I saw a post from NWM FB offering entry to NIKE+ members. I couldn’t believe my eyes!! Click here….I did…..complete this…I did…….next thing I know I get a confirmation Congratulating me on getting in the NWM 1/2 marathon!! I immediately got nauseous!! I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting in Ikea eating lunch with my daughter. I look at my daughter with big confused eyes and said..”I just got into the NWM!!!” She looked at me like…and??? I went on to explain to her how hard it is to get into and how I had been trying to get in this year. Well….I just got in!!!!! She then got really excited and congratulated me!!!! I was in awe for the rest of the day!

Race day was 4 wks away!!!!! Wow!!! 4 wks to train for 1/2 marathon. I never really did long distance runs. I averaged about 10-12 miles a week. I had just started upping my long runs to 4.5 miles 2 wks prior to this (thank goodness). Later that evening, I quickly researched how to prepare for a 1/2 marathon in 4 wks!!!! I really had 3.5 wks because I couldn’t start running until later in the week because of my work schedule. I used this plan to train. My first week of running I ran 4.5 miles twice and one long run for 8 miles. That 8 mile run pooped me out. After that run I came home, showered and slept 2 hrs!!! I was pretty sore for about 2 days. I looked at many difference sites for 1/2 marathon training plans. The one I choose seemed realistic and doable. I choose an 8 week training program for beginners. Since I only had 3 1/2 wks to train, I started at week 5. I think this was a great training plan because I could combine running with cross-training. I didn’t have to just “run” for 3 wks. Some plans I came across had you running everyday. I just felt that was unrealistic and I didn’t want to over due it and cause an injury. Each time I did a long run, afterwards I felt better and better. I also made sure I had lower body deep tissue massage in between long runs so my muscles wouldn’t get tight. This is important for me because I’m prone to severe muscle spasms and I discovered deep tissue massage 1 1/2 yrs ago and it has helped tremendously.

After my last long run of 10 miles, I felt pretty good. A little sore but much better than my first long run of 8 miles. The week up to race day, I did two short 2 mile runs so my legs don’t forget how to run. 🙂 Excited about race day!!!!! Can’t believe it’s time!!! Brown legs don’t fail me now!!!!!!!!