A half what?

A half marathon. Yes, you heard me right. I am training for a half marathon! Crazy, I know. It has never been one of my goals,  but it is now. I just recently joined Bellingham Fit, a training program here in Bham (and across the country).  I am (have been) feeling frustrated at my fitness/weight again lately. You might remember that I had a goal last year around this time to loose weight (baby weight) and I did... but then it stopped. And then it climbed again. Then I lost again before Christmas and then gained it all back and more... ugh. I know I am not cutting as many calories as I should but I also know that I need to increase my activity level as well. I really dislike joining a gym. I needed something that would hold me accountable and have a goal associated with it. I like doing exercise with other people. I have a great group of women friends who are all really active but I am so far behind them, I feel like I can't exercise with them. So another one of my goals is to maybe be able to "run" with them one day. Or at least go with them :-)

So a runner friend told me about Bham fit. You get put into a group with others at your same level. And then people train for either a marathon or half marathon. At first I thought I would just do it to get more fit, not train for a half marathon. But then I got excited and inspired by their goals. If you follow their training, I should be able to either walk/jog it! So I am going for it. I am in the "Red" group- a jogging/walking group.  We meet as a large group once a week on Saturdays for a big walk/run. Each group has a coach who works with you to help you, encourage you, teach you, etc.  Then 4 days during the week we train in times. It was really nice because at first they start you out with walk/jogging for only 15 minutes. It was really nice to start and be able to feel like you could complete it. Then slowly during the week, we are working on increasing our time. This week we are doing 20-30 minutes a day. Then this weekend we will increase our mileage to 3.5 miles. The half marathon I am going for is the Bellingham Bay Half at the end of September. I am excited! 

I have been starting to jog and then walking when I get tired. I have my little loop in Whatcom Falls park. I have also been getting up in the morning before the kids and day start. Somewhere in my head I had this idea that I didn't want to exercise in the morning so I could sleep. Yeah right. What life am I living now. Most mornings, Eliza is awake by 6:15-6:30. So as long as Adam doesn't ride his bike I can get in two-three morning jogs before he leaves for work. I do have to do after school on Tuesday since I already get up at 5:30 am on work days.

I have learned a couple of things about getting up early to exercise...
1. I love it.
2. I feel good getting it done with before the rest of the day, no excuses later.
3. I love the light & sounds of spring mornings.
4. The beavers are out in the pond in the early morning. I have seen them twice now!
5. It's more miserable to try to really exercise with a 3.5 yr old on a bike and an almost 2 year old in a stroller than it is to get up at 6:30 am in the rain. I never realized how much I stop in 20 minutes of exercise to get water bottles, fix bike chains, push kids up a hill, carry a bike across the street, etc...
6. Running with dog poop bag in your hand is not fun.

So far I have kept up with my training schedule. I like having a schedule I need to follow. I did take off one day this week because my knees were really hurting. Then the next day I walked. I tried jogging again today but they are hurting again...so I think I need to take it a little easy.

My friend Jen is also doing this with me. So we can encourage each other. We have only been able to walk once outside of our Saturday morning group runs. But maybe this summer when both our husbands are off from school and our schedules get less busy. The only thing I really miss is our family Saturday morning pancake breakfast... Sunday just doesn't seem the same. But oh well! I will keep you posted on my progress.