2017 goal: Run a half marathon

Or, I could buy a used t-shirt from Ebay

At the start of the new year, I was looking for some new personal goals. Running 5Ks was fun, but while my times were middle-of-the-pack, faster times did not seem that wise for a 55-year-old. Injuries come with speed. Besides, I run to relax and stay fit, not really to be competitive.

I decided to aim for a 10K. This spring I started upping my upper limit distance -- from 5 miles, to 6, and one day I felt great and ran 8 miles. I wondered... Could I do a half-marathon?

I started listening to the Runner's World podcasts -- I highly recommend this article on running mechanics and this podcast on same. If there is a horse tie-in with this post, it's human running mechanics and comparisons with equine mechanics. Joints are joints.

I subscribed to Runner's World. I looked at half-marathons in my area. This last Saturday I ran 9 miles on a cool, wet, windy morning.  Saturday night I signed up for the Via half-marathon in Bethlehem, PA.

Tuesday (yesterday at the time of this writing) I took the afternoon off from work, and decided to run as long as I could. I started to feel tired at 10 miles of running on Lehigh's cross country course, and turned onto a flat trail near there. At mile 11.5, I suddenly started to feel great. The last mile and a half I was accelerating.