The Running Band.

The other night I was out with my fellow PhD friends and their assorted spouses and others. The hottest topic of conversation within this group for the past few outings has been the growing number of people starting to run with each other. It started with one friend who wanted to train for the Austin marathon in February. All of a sudden, everyone is starting to talk about training for it. For the most part I have stayed out of this conversation - this has probably been partly due to me as I don't like to talk about exercise in public and partly due to them as they figured I wouldn't be up for it. This past time was a little different though. One person said she was going to walk the half marathon and asked if I wanted to join in. I was a bit taken back but my immediate answer was yes (as long as training started when fall comes to Texas and the temperature dips below the 100s).  I would have never - in a million years - said yes to this before I got the band.

Even at my fittest I was a strictly inside the gym treadmill/elliptical kind of gal. Seriously, the last time I remember exercising outside was during pledging in college (as a side note one of the best ways to get out of outside running while pledging is to repeatedly show up drunk). I have no clue what made me say yes; it can only be a small growth of self confidence that the band has brought to me. My outburst of "yes" really made me feel good though. There have been so many conversations or activities I have been left out of in the past because of my weight and I really want that to end. I don't want to be a person apart and now feel like I have the tools to be an integrated member of the group.

So, yay. I am going to walk a half-marathon in February. Holy crud, I am going to walk a half marathon in February!  What have I gotten myself into? Isn't the whole history behind a marathon is that the guy died after running his 26.2 miles to alert the Greeks of impending danger. I am not quite sure what I have gotten myself into.  Good thing the official training doesn't start until October. I have a little more than a month to train for my upcoming half-marathon training. What to do, what to do? First things first - I needed to shop.

I bought:

1. 
   
   Nike + iPod pedometer,
2. 
   
   New shoes to put the pedometer into, and
3. 
   
   A Camelbak to hold water for my lengthy runs (walks).

Shopping completed, I started with walking 2 miles both last night and tonight. The first night I thought my lungs would explode after going up a hill but tonight was a little better. I'm really slow though (my handy-dandy pedometer tells me I only walk a 17 minute mile). Hopefully I will be able to work myself up to at least 4 miles at a time by October so I don't look like a total fool. If anyone has walking advice or has experience with long race type issues - I am all ears!