Life's not a sprint, it's a (half) marathon.

I wanted to start off my debut as a member of Team Participation Trophy with a bang, so I bribed Matt to sign up for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Half Marathon with me. I started running a little over 18 months ago, and have completed several 5K races and one 10K.

As this will be my first half marathon, I’m trying to be pretty strict with my training (Matt has this in the bag since this will be his third). My coworker who ran her first half in Savannah this year and who is also running Pittsburgh with us created a 16-week training plan for us to follow.

The first 6 weeks have been tough, with the weather and water crisis. A few weeks ago I gave in to Mother Nature and joined a gym so I can stay on track with my training plan. Our plan includes running three times a week: weekday runs are 3-5 miles, and weekend runs are long runs that increase half a mile per week. This week I passed the halfway mark with a 7 miler on the dreadmill!

On my cross-training days I had been doing free weights or the elliptical, but last week I found a new class that is guaranteed to whip me into shape: a twice-weekly, 45 minute strength and conditioning class at my gym. The class consists of sprints, jump squats, crunches, push-ups, high-knees, planks…pretty much your average boot camp activities.

My mileage for 2014 so far is 55 miles. Not too shabby! Looking forward to crossing this item off my bucket list.