Am I nuts? Half Marathon in September???

Hi all. I haven't ever posted here but I need advice terribly.  My surgiversary is 5/25/08 and I have lost 92 or more pounds (my top weight was 240 somethin...)  I'm 5'3 and so i am still mildly overweight and have begun (finally) to really exercise to try to get the scale moving.  After I started working out again I realized, "Wow, this isn't so awful anymore... in fact, it's pretty fun!"  And I am getting better and better at it and fitter as I continue.  A friend of mine who is in great shape and has been very supportive challenged me to train for the 1/2 marathon in Rochester, NY in September... The thing is, I have NEVER run anything in my life.  I was always the chubby kid who could barely make it around the track in gym class.  I told myself, my whole life, that I could never be an athlete, and that never ever would I be one of those crazy people runnin their bums off in a marathon... But now, now everything has changed, and I really do feel like there are so many things I can do, if I put my mind to it... and I really want to prove to myself that I can meet this challenge... Is it even possible?  Is that enough time to train?  I do plan to hire a trainer, for sure... but I don't want to set a goal for myself that is unrealistic and then end up discouraged... Thoughts? Thanks, Kim

If you are running to complete and not too awful worried about compete (finishing first),..yes you can and it will be the thrill of a lifetime. I highly recommend giving it your best shot and be happy with whatever you can accomplish without overtrainnig and injurying yourself (then its no fun and you don't get to do the race and you miss your goal and thats a real bummer!!). Set the goal and train.  There are lots of training schedules for beginners (Runners World and Active.com to name 2), also see Jeff Galloway who has some good books. Just get started and try to increase a little each week.  Also throw in some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT or Interval training; sprints) and Tempo Run (shorter faster runs with slower jogging to recover in bewteen) running to speed your progress, in addition to your Long Distance Slow (LDS) runs that build stamina and endurance. Go get'em tiger.   Also look to talk with Mary, Deanna34, and Sporty Jill,...three kick-butt running babes!!!   That oughta stir some  conversation!!!

You can totally do this!  Even if you end up walking some, this is a goal that won't be hard to achieve.  I did my first 10K race in 4 months (starting from scratch) and did it under an hour then I did a half marathon 3 months later and did it in 2 hr 21 min.  I'm nearly 5'5" and was much heavier than you and only 4 months post-op when I started running. As long as you can get to a point where you can go for 9-10 miles you won't have ANY trouble finishing a half.  My mom (age 61) walks them. Linn

Kim it's definately do-able.   A book that I used and highly recommend for marathon / half-marathon training is John Bingham's "Marathoning For Mortals".  It has great, step-by-step training plans to walk, walk-run, run-walk and run marathons and half-marathons.

Train smart, take it easy and slow and you'll do fine.

Chad

Kim, Of course you can do it.  Go for it. I had surgery in Dec of 05 and decided that I wanted to run a marathon in June of 06.  I ran Disney in Jan of 07, 13 months after surgery. There are hundreds of books out there that will help and motivate you.  Check out Amazon.com for some deals.

Kim, You've gotten some great adivce.  I think you can definitely do it - good luck! Mary

Kim,  If you are nuts for doing a 1/2 marathon in Sept, move over 'cause I'm doing mine in Aug!   My rny was 11/12/07  95lwith lbs gone and 20 weeks to train.   The people *****plied with advice have walked (or run) in your shoes.  Pm me so we can encourage each other...Rock you own world...Kathleen