A Goal for 2009

I don't make resolutions because I don't keep them. But thanks to Mer, I at least have a goal for 2009 - an extra one anyway, besides all of the goals associated with relocating to another state. On Saturday night, Mer asked if I would be interested in joining she and Lauren to train for a half marathon. I don't consider myself a runner in the full sense of the word, but as I blogged about it before, I am actually starting to enjoy my runs. So, maybe a half marathon would be fun. The training isn't crazy, and the recovery from a 13.1 mile race is a lot friendlier than the recovery for a full marathon. Why not? Let's give it a shot. The three of us will meet in the next week or so to get ready for this - 13.1 miles, here I come. Mer has been through this training before, and she has suggested the Hal Higdon training program. It looks good to me - somewhat scary, but hey, that's what a challenge is supposed to be about, right? I need to build up my endurance a bit more before I really get going, so I will probably extend the week 1 training for a few weeks. We also haven't decided which half marathon we will enter, so we will change the training schedule to fit our timeline. Here's the schedule, unaltered, from Mr. Higdon's website:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Stretch & Strengthen	3 m run	2 m run or cross	3 m run + strength	Rest	30 min cross	4 m run
2	Stretch & Strengthen	3 m run	2 m run or cross	3 m run + strength	Rest	30 min cross	4 m run
3	Stretch & Strengthen	3.5 m run	2 m run or cross	3.5 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	5 m run
4	Stretch & Strengthen	3.5 m run	2 m run or cross	3.5 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	5 m run
5	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	2 m run or cross	4 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	6 m run
6	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	2 m run or cross	4 m run + strength	Rest or easy run	Rest	5-K Race
7	Stretch & Strengthen	4.5 m run	3 m run or cross	4.5 m run + strength	Rest	50 min cross	7 m run
8	Stretch & Strengthen	4.5 m run	3 m run or cross	4.5 m run + strength	Rest	50 min cross	8 m run
9	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	Rest or easy run	Rest	10-K Race
10	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	Rest	60 min cross	9 m run
11	Stretch & Strengthen	5 m run	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	Rest	60 min cross	10 m run
12	Stretch & Strengthen	4 m run	3 m run or cross	2 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

I'll keep you posted as to how this goes. I am excited and nervous. But hey, I can do this, right???