I made a decision not to long ago that I wanted to train for a marathon…well…half Marathon.

Every May there is the Pittsburgh Marathon. It covers Downtown Pittsburgh and a few surrounding neighborhoods. It’s up hill, downhill, rain, snow, or shine. And it’s 26.2 Miles. That’s a hell no from me. For now.

So what will I attempt? The Pittsburgh HALF Marathon. Which is the same day at the same time and part of the same route and it’s only 13.1 miles. I’m only 10.1 miles off from that. Well…10.6. I can run 2.5 miles right now. I have 11 months. 11 months to train for 13.1 miles. It’s kind of terrifying. Right now I struggle running for 25 minutes, 2.5 miles.

Can I ever make it 13.1 miles?

The first thing I’m going to do is have to develop a training program. Something that will get me outside and hitting the pavement rather than the treadmill belt. Runners World has a good training program and tells you what you should aim for weekly.

My issue is…can I do it? Can I build up the endurance and strength to last that long? While I won’t be going for some phenomenal time where I’m the fastest person EVER, I want to finish. I want to finish without walking. I want to jog/run the entire time. I want to not be so short of breath after 2 blocks that I’m wheezing and passing out because yeah hi, fat ass over here.

How do I go about doing that?

How do I build up that endurance?

I suppose slow and steady wins the race. While I’m good to go with 2.5 miles on the treadmill, running on pavement/grass/dirt is going to be a lot different. It’s going to require me to use my own exertion to move myself rather than a machine doing it for me. I’ll have to use the power of my own legs.

Shit, do I have that kind of power? Can I do something that’s not in gym related?

Am I setting myself up for a massive failure?

Eh, who knows. It won’t hurt trying though. At least I hope not.

So that’s it. The half marathon. The route I’ll be running next May. It doesn’t seem THAT bad, does it?