First Half Marathon

I literally JUST signed up for my first half marathon!!! Its the first inaugural Gettysburg Blue/Grey Marathon October 30th!

 I started my 12-week training program this week.  Its from Hal Higdon's website.......see below...

It seems like a very do-able training program.  This is the intermediate version of the Half Marathon training provided by Hal on his site.  He also has provided beginner and expert and training for every other kind of race from beginner to expert on his site, check it out its all free! www.halhigdon.com.

I am pretty excited to run this race, it is in preparation to running a marathon sometime in 2012!  Gotta keep goals right?

Anyway, I will blog about my training some, but you can check my daily progress at www.gymga.com/ahol22. Gymga is an awesome place to share with other people trying to be/become healthy!  It is very motivational and played a BIG part in my recent weight loss and re-introduction into diet and exercise (basically becoming The Running Caveman!). 

Night Time Runs

Lately I have doing a lot of training after dark.  Mostly because it has been hotter than the blazes of hell here during the day, but also because I usually try to spend as much time as possible with my Daughter before putting her to bed and then I go when she is asleep.

Anyway, I am actually really enjoying running at night.  Its very different from running during the day.  You are much more in tune with your surroundings.  You tend to listen to every sound, your eyes peering into the darkness for anything that might get in your way.  It's also suspenseful, every time you hear the faintest noise, you try to see what caused it.

I highly recommend trying it under a couple of conditions.
1.  Only run at night in familiar areas.  I know this seems like a total DUH, but its REALLY easy to get lost when its dark out.  also, you will know if a familiar area is safe or not, I don't want anyone getting mugged because they decided to practice their 5-K pace at night in Southeast DC or something!
2.  make sure you are capable of running in the dark.  if you have balance or vision problems its probably not a good idea!
3. finally, DON'T listen to your iPod!!!  to be honest I think I am going to do a post about running sans MP3, I think today's runners are missing out on one of the best parts of running because they constantly have white buds and cords dangling from their skulls!