Is it ok to walk a little when training for a half marathon? How about walking a lot?

On Monday, I ran about 4.6 miles - out to Holmes Lake, around the lake, and back. I did a lot more walking than I'm proud to admit but I kept telling myself that I was doing a lot better than my previous evening on the couch. But still, I walked too much and I don't like that.

Tonight I did a little less than half of that, but I ran the whole thing. Upon arriving home, I laid down in our driveway and just stared up at our huge oak tree, noting the insane amount of leaves we'll be raking and bagging in just a few weeks. When I regained feeling in my feet, I went inside to start the night shift. And since Elmo was still in grouchland and had still not recovered his blanket from that dirty mean 'ol Huxley, I knew my run was not as long and impressive as it felt.

Hey, if I can do that six and a half more times, I can do my half marathon!

Training Buddies: Two Minutes of Conspiracy

Me: I have to keep this up, so I'm running tonight, no matter what. Calvin will have fun in the jogging stroller. How hard can it be to push a stroller?

Arms: Hey, this stroller pushing is kinda hard. Like seriously, wow.

Knees: We could go all night!

Calvin: No, that way, THAT WAY, THAT WAY! *crunches apple*

Me: Oh God. He brought his apple. There's a lot of bumps on the sidewalk, omg what if he chokes on his apple WHAT IF HE CHOKES ON HIS APPLE AND STOPS BREATHING AND HOW DO YOU DO THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER ON A TODDLER?

Jogging Stroller: I want you to constantly go a little to the right, mmmkay?

Phone: I know you're really enjoying this entertaining NPR Ask Me Another podcast, but I'm going to turn off now even though my battery still has 40%. Ha, get it? Because your battery was full when you left the house, sucka. Oh, and I decided not to launch Runtastic for you either so you'll have to guess your distance. Oh, and you hit a bump so I'm going to bounce out of this cupholder and you can't replace me for another 47 days. Teehee!

Knees: We don't hurt this time! Run!

Lungs: Is Albuterol here? No? We're going to give ourself a big 'ol squeeze then.

Arms: I hate you, stroller!

Jogging Stroller: I'm going to leak some more air out of the back right tire and see if she finally notices it's getting kinda flat lol lol lol lol. #whathappenswhenionlygetoutacoupletimesayear

Calvin: Now that I've finished eating my apple core, I'll just put my feet up and get comfy. Wheeeeeee!

Me: A walk around the block sounds delightful.

Starting from Scratch the Second Time

I'm about 14 weeks away from my half marathon, and I've decided to try training for it. All summer long, I assumed I would find an excellent reason to stay home on the 9th of November. But today, our race organizers emailed us all training schedules, which looked like something I should at least try to do. By my best calculations, the 12 week training schedule starts a week from this coming Monday, but I'm not quite up to running the prescribed 3 miles on day 1. This evening I ran for just a little more than 2 miles, giving myself a couple walking breaks.

I do have to admit that starting from scratch the second time is much easier than my first time in 2011. I cannot bask in my success too long, as this time around I have a toddler. Night night!