My New Garmin 305!!!

My husband picked the best Valentine's gift for me, ever!!! I know I had mentioned in my blog after my first 5K that I needed a sports watch. I hadn't even mentioned it to my husband and the next thing I know, he had already bought me the Garmin for Valentine's Day! He's a techie nerd and was actually excited to do the research and find a good sports watch for me.
I'm still getting used to how to use it, but the basics, I've got down. I am most excited about the fact that I no longer need to drive in my car on Saturday nights to map out my long runs for the next day. I was also using Map My Run online, but learned from another fellow blogger that the distances are quite off on those maps.
Now, I can just hit start on the Garmin and go. I'm also excited to hopefully work on my pace and improve faster than I would without the Garmin. I have already begun to push my self a little harder when I can see how I'm doing with a quick glance during my runs. Another huge plus, is the fact that when I travel for vacation or whatever, it will be much easier to get a run in, knowing I can track my distance without guessing.
The only drawbacks are that you have to wait a while for it to find it's location sometimes and it is rather large and clunky. I think I'm already used to these two drawbacks and the pros really do outweigh the cons.
Training is going well, although, I've been a little sore in my glutes and hamstrings over the past few days. I think this is due to my recent interest in doing On Demand Jillian Michaels total body shred workouts. Those things totally kick my ass!! Especially the lunges!
I ran 6 miles on Sunday and it was pouring rain the entire time, oh well, at least it wasn't snow!! I was supposed to be at 7 miles according to Hal's half-marathon schedule, but like I said, my glutes and hamstrings were killing me on Sunday morning. Plus, I have plenty of extra time in my training before the half, so that I can double up on mileage weeks if needed.
Have a great week, everyone!!!

You've Got to Start Somewhere!!

Technically, I've began running in a serious way about 6 weeks ago. I wanted to get myself to a point that I didn't have to start training for the half with a run/walk mix. I wanted to start running from the beginning. Today was the official first day on the schedule, I logged in 3 miles and ran them on the treadmill in the gym. I'm still so new to this that I have yet to keep track of my runs with pace tracking. I just know that I ran at about 5.7 miles per hour on the treadmill. As I progress further into my training, I will make my pace a more important priority.
I'm fighting off the beginnings of a cold, so I'm keeping my fingers and shoelaces crossed that I can fight this thing off and it won't interrupt my training schedule.
i just finished the book, The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women by Dawn Dais and enjoyed reading it. She adds great humor to the whole experience of training for a marathon.
I'm excited to train for this, knowing I won't be alone. My sister and my best friend will be training for other marathons around the same time as mine back in Ohio, we are going to e-mail and chat to each other about our experiences. A great way for us to hold each other accountable, and both of them have already done marathons so they will be able to share their expertise with me.
I'm excited to check off one of those to-do's on my life list that I've been wanting to do for a LONG time! Here's to a successful training week #1!!!