Thoughts on running your first big race
 

My wife is a runner. She's run several at varying distances, and she has been gently prodding me to accompany her. I need healthier hobbies, so I decided to finally do one (I've done 2 5Ks, that's it).

So we're going to do a half marathon in 18 weeks. It's going to be a trail run on Mackinaw Island in Michigan in late October. It looks awesome. We also are going to do at least one 10K before then. My wife is big into RunnersWorld, and we found a good program online to get each of us ready in time. I'm pretty pumped.

Anyways, since I know several of your are runners, do you have any thoughts on race training that you wished you'd known before you started out?

Isn't that where the horrendous film Somewhere in Time was filmed? Are you guys going to have to dress up like the freaks who love that movie?

Yes. I heard dressing like a freak makes you run a quicker mile.

Whatever it takes, eh? :)

Good luck in your training.

<MI native mode>
The Michigan Upper Peninsula is some of the prettiest country in the U.S. BTW, it's speleed Mackinac, though it's pronunced with a W like you typed.

Sounds like a fun trip.
</MI Native mode>

:)

Sorry, I'm not a good speleer.

You're right, it should be cool. A trail run with the fall colors should be great (if I don't die).

Yeah that was pretty bright of me wasn't it. Guess I was focusued on Mackinac/Mackinaw, not general spelling. :-S

I used a similar program a couple of years ago that my brother sent me from Runners World for a 10K. It was a good program. He used it to get down to about 32:00 for a 10K.

If you haven't already, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books out there on preparing for various distance races. My wife is preparing for her first marathon in September and picked up a book at Barnes and Noble entitled something like "Preparing for your first marathon". Its an okay book, albeit very light on any acual exercise physiology, more just anectdotal reports from his 30 or so years of running.

I haven't run seriously for several years, but from what I understand with distance running is to not miss your long saturday runs. For a half marathon, I expect you should be doing at least 10 miles without serious difficulty in the weeks leading up to the race.

Intensity.

I start out strong but fade in the middle and then recover to finish strong. I wish I knew how to run the middle better.

If you're doing this for fun, stick to what you're doing. If you're a bit neurotic, do more fun runs in the form of 10ks and 5ks, because nothing similuates a race like a race.

Running is about hurting. And you don't run fast without hurting.