I ran my first half marathon!
My goal was a 10 minute pace, which is not at all unreasonable. I’m comfortable running a 5K distance so two weeks before the half marathon, I increased my distance to 6 miles and then to 10 miles the week before. I had planned to run about 12 miles on Friday, rest and carb up on Saturday in preparation for the half marathon on Sunday. When I started my run on Friday, I noticed sharp pain and tightness in my right calf. I thought I could just run it off, but I wasn’t able to make it out of my driveway (I have a long driveway :P)! I spent the rest of Friday and the whole day Saturday drinking lots of water and stretching out my calf. By the time Sunday came around, I wasn’t 100%, but at least I was able to run. I tried to maintain my usual pace, but I had to slow down when I felt my calf tightening up.
Henry can’t hang so I conned his brother into running with me 😀
Time: 2:16:03
Pace: 10:23
Considering I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run two days before the race, I’m satisfied with my time. There’s definitely room for improvement!
this girl, kc 
You wanted to run 12 miles two days before a half marathon? That’s a pretty unconventional strategy! Most people would recommend that you run twelve miles one to two weeks prior. Maybe your calf was acting out because it was trying to tell you to rest up instead.
Congratulations on finishing — it’s not every day you get a decent time with less training than you would have wanted.
haha! It sounded like a good idea……. I clearly don’t know what I’m doing 😦 Got any tips for me?
Absolutely. Most casual runners in training for a half marathon will run 10-12 miles two weeks before race day. In between, they will typically do easy runs of 3-5 miles to keep fitness. The days before the race you want to keep it light so that your legs are rested and refreshed the morning of the big day.