One of the crazy things I’ve done during COVID is to start running. I’ve run before, not a lot, but I have done it. I did the Couch to 5k program about a decade ago, with good success. But then life happened, and I got out of the habit. My husband has been running lately, and when we started working from home together, we found we had the time to run together.

We started the C25k program about three months ago. I’m quite a bit overweight, so it has been a lot harder to run this time than it was a decade and about forty pounds ago. Still, we’ve stuck with it, and we got up to 25 minutes running without stopping. This is where I start getting bored, so I’m starting to think about some external motivation.

I love Disney, so how about a DisneyWorld run? I’ve started looking into it, and it seems like a ton of fun. But probably the earliest we’ll be able to register is next fall. Which is good, because it gives us plenty of time to train (and maybe lose some weight!). I turn 50 in January, so it seems like now is the time to do this. I really want to run a half in my 50-year-old year.

Also on the RunDisney site, there is information from Jeff Galloway about the run-walk method, which is really attractive to me. I first heard about the Galloway method about 17 years ago. I was working downtown, eating lunch somewhere, and reading the newspaper. There was an article on the idea of running the 500 Festival Mini using the run-walk marathon. I decided I was going to do it and run the festival the following year. But then I got pregnant about a month later, and I never got back to the idea. Until now!

So I borrowed Galloway’s half marathon book from the library, and Monday Andrew and I tried it. We were running only thirty seconds and then walking for a minute. And we went every bit as far as when we ran the whole time. Whoa. We did it again this morning, and I really like it. I finish the run tired, feeling like I’ve had a workout, but also feeling like I can run more. Whereas when we were running 25 minutes solid, I was miserable. The other thing is, I can run a lot faster during the runs, so I feel like I’m actually running when I’m running (if that makes any sense!).

Galloway coaches to time yourself running a mile every week at first, and then every month after that, to determine how fast you can finish a half and what run/walk pace you should use. Monday is Labor Day, so we’re going to go to a nearby track and time ourselves there. Maybe we’ll change our pace after that, maybe not. But we’ve got a year to get going.

My biggest concern is actually getting registered, since all of this year’s races have been cancelled. But I have a few ideas around that. I won’t give them away here, though!

Hopefully, about a year from now, I’ll be able to post about completing my half!