Journey to a Half

Hi again! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season! Has anyone started to think about their New Years resolution yet? As we approach January 1st, I have thought of a few things I'd like to accomplish in 2012. I am going to write a post later with all of my goals but here is a preview of my biggest, most consuming goal.

My biggest goal this year is to run a half marathon. I have dabbled in racing with two 5ks and a triathlon. During those times I really enjoyed training and competing. As I've become a stronger runner, competing in a longer race has been in the back of my mind. When I saw a tweet about the Cox Providence Full and Half Marathons, I knew this was an opportunity I wanted to pursue. Having seen many advertisements in the past for this race, I knew it was a long-standing Rhode Island tradition. I grew up in RI and only recently moved to Hoboken, NJ for my career, so what better than to come back to race in my favorite state?

When I saw Cox's call for bloggers who are training for the race, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity for me to do the two things I love, run and write! If I am selected to be a Cox Rhode Scholar, I will be writing weekly recaps of my training and every thing that entails. And let's be honest, even if I'm not selected, I will probably try to write about my training every week anyway.

So here are the details about the race: it takes place on May 6th at 8am in Providence, Rhode Island. The course is 13.1 miles (obviously!) and it goes all over downtown Providence. I think this is the perfect time of the year for a race because the weather will not be too hot or cold. Also, I'm sure it will be a beautiful course. We also get teck shirts (!) which is my favorite part of any race. I am racing with my friend, colleague and neighbor, Jess, who you may have seen in photos of my last two races. We are about the same running level (she may be a touch faster), so we will be good motivators for each other.

The race is 19 weeks away, which leaves me time to complete two training plans. I am starting Hal Higdon's beginner 10k plan for the first 7 weeks (I will skip the tapering week) then switch to his intermediate half marathon training plan (which takes 12 weeks). That will put me right up to May 6th and I'll (hopefully) be in the best shape of my life. I really want to run this race with a good time, which is why I am following the intermediate half training plan. Those 12 weeks are dedicated to making a solid runner even faster. My hope is that I will have built up my strength and endurance in the first 7 weeks so that I will be strong enough to train at an intermediate level.

I will also be running a 10k during my training. My rationale is that I would like to have run a race longer than a 5k before I try to kill a half marathon. Obviously, my goal with any race is just to finish it without walking, but this time I'd like to have a time I am proud of. There's nothing better than crossing the finish line knowing you gave the training and the race your all.

During my weekly posts, I will write about my day-to-day training, how I am motivating myself, and what I am eating to fuel my body for the many miles I will be carrying it. If you guys have any suggestions of things you would like me to post about, let me know! Maybe I will do a post about race terminology and etiquette for beginners-even though I'm not much more than a beginner myself.

There's one thing I forgot to mention--GOLD STARS! Throughout my training, I will be using gold stars to mark my completed workouts on my training plan. I think this will be a good tool to motivate myself to complete each workout. That way, if I miss a day, there will be no gold star and really, how sad is that?!

So I hope you will join me on my journey to a half marathon! Maybe some of you would even want to run it with me...? My name is Courtney Davis, I'm 22 years old, I'd like to run the half marathon and I am from Hoboken, NJ. Thanks for reading!