Hanson's Half Marathon Kick Off

Monday officially started the beginning of training for my next goal race, the Richmond Half Marathon. Last year during my recovery from the accident, I bought "Hanson's Half Marathon Method". I started reading it as a way to keep me motivated when I couldn't be active. It had a bit of a bad side effect in making me miss it even more. So I tucked it away.

And then this winter/early spring I signed up for a training program alongside my running store family. It was a training program designed mostly for folks running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler but was conducive to people like me who wanted a slightly longer distance (the half) around the same time frame. So I trained for weeks with my buddies by my side. And then a work project "went live" and derailed my training for a few weeks. And then I ran my first post-accident half. And it was a train wreck! The training hadn't failed me, it had actually been great. The time between the end of the official training and the race and the kick off at work....okay those events didn't fail me...I failed me. I used them as an excuse and didn't run much. And so my race...was bad. So after the race, I wallowed. I stepped away for a week. And then I decided to get a base beneath my feet as I jumped head first into the biggest challenge of my running career thus far. I was going to follow Hanson's Half Marathon method and set a BIG GOAL for the Richmond Half Marathon.

That plan had always been in the back of my head, since early in the year. But now it was time to execute...to put my money where my mouth was. So I dusted off the book and read it...cover to cover...while watching my boys enjoy time at the pool. I had moments of excitement because it is based in science (queue my science teacher heart exploding) and moments of terror as I added up all the miles I would be expected to run. But the day has come. Today I took my first steps toward completing Hanson's. I woke up early and hit the pavement with a running buddy I have not seen enough of lately. We did 3 miles at a pace that was faster than I was supposed to run. But today I put a green X on the training calendar to indicate that I successfully executed the plan. I hope the weeks to come will bring many more green Xs!