My running history and thoughts on a training strategy

I have a love/hate relationship with running.  I have never been much of a runner and the longest race I've run is a 5k.

There.  That's my history.  This is the part where people might think I'm a little nuts for considering a half marathon.

When I ran my 5k, I was doing a lot of CrossFit and not much running at all besides a couple 400m runs a week.  I was thoroughly shocked to find out that cross training gets you in shape to run!  I was daunted by the 5k but I ended up running it in 35 minutes or so, and part of that was while team carrying a huge log.

After finishing the 5k, I continued to do CrossFit several times per week, and would throw in 2.5 to 3 miles runs occasionally.  At the time, my husband and I were travelling to western Washington fairly often to spend time with his family.  His mom was dying of cancer and it was a really stressful time for everyone.  Looking back, I can see that I was using running as a way to handle the stress, and through that time I started to enjoy hitting the trail in solitude in the early morning.

I haven't run much since then, and I quit CrossFit altogether in December 2009.  A few sprints on the treadmill here and there, one 2.5 mile session at the gym and one 3 mile session around the neighborhood last fall is all I've done.

Training wise, I've looked at a few half marathon plans and have found a couple that I like but I haven't settled on one yet.  I plan to run 3 times a week, strength train 3 times a week using Wendler's 5/3/1, and have at least one full day of rest.  I'm currently on a fairly low calorie diet to drop some weight (I've lost 35 lbs since September and have 18 more to go) but I'm looking forward to being done with that next month and ramping up the exercise.

Probably not many posts around here between now and February but I am excited to take on this challenge and will be back to document my progress!