Working on My First Half Marathon

Wanted to do Lynn Gray's Take the First Step Running College this summer, but 

a) I'm not running

b) couldn't find anyone to walk at my pace through the course

c) hurt one knee and the other one was in pain too.

But I was stuck with needing to train for the Myakka River Half Marathon - which means build up my distance and get my speed up to a 20 minute mile over that distance.  Luckily I remembered that rundisney.com had a training plan for the Wine and Dine Half-Marathon, so I looked it up and discovered that if I followed it and added 14 days to the date on the schedule, then I would finish exactly on time!  Woo! Hoo!

In addition, by following the beginner regime, I now had a routine that I could manage with Claudia Dold, who was willing to be my walking partner but didn't have a lot of time during the week.  Best of all, here was a plan where I'd be taking it easy for a few weeks while my knees got back into shape- so we're trying it and we'll see how it goes.  

So now my goal is to get to Myakka and finish with a 20 minute mile, then focus on the  getting my time down to a 16 minute mile for the Gasparilla Distance Classic.  Hopefully, I'll get to the Boston Marathon in the next few years, but not trying to get to the Clearwater Distance Classic any finish with anything close to a Boston Marathon Qualifying time- maybe in 2017- so I'd get to Boston in my 65th year, rather than for my 65th birthday (Boston Marathon is always 2 weeks before my birthday).

Other races on my schedule: The entire Miles for Minds series and Trot Through The Terrace 10K (which has now become just a prep race for Myakka).  

Fitness for last week included:

Thursday morning:1.36 mile walk in 36:13 minutes (26'30" pace)

Friday morning: 30 minutes of water aerobics, 3 flights of stairs, 1.38 miles of walking and 38 active minutes.

Saturday morning: 30 minutes of gardening (only counted as 10 active minutes) and 1.28 miles of walking.

Sunday morning: 2.39 mile walk in 1:02:46 (26'13" pace)- counted as 62 active minutes- total for the day was 3.3 miles and 8,333 steps!

Monday morning:  Rest.  Total for the day was 2,137 steps and 1.65 miles.

Tuesday morning: 1.43 mile walk with Claudia in 33:34 (23'22" pace).  For the day had 60 active minutes, 3 flights of stairs and 3,43 miles.

Wednesday morning: 30 minutes of water aerobics

and this morning: 1.27 mile walk in 30:30 minutes (24'00" pace at 77 degrees)

More good stuff to come!

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Miles for Moffitt- May 7, 2015 5K in 1:11:29 (not last).  Trained with the Miles for Moffitt Training Clinic with Lynn Gray- highly recommended!