My first was this weekend, and now I'm going to be searching for another I guess. Can't believe I'm saying this while I'm still sore. SpinDr, have you done la Jolla before? I bet it's beautiful, but it has probably got some hills. Do you know?

Run chic, This will be my first HM. I put the course in the maps. It has one major hill up torrey pines, change of elevation 420ft in 1 mile at mile 6. Heard it is rough. I work a couple miles from there, so have been training on hills so hope it helps.

May 19th Ogden, Ut Half. It will be my first.

March 24. Washington DC National Half Marathon. Two weeks to go. I'm shooting for a sub 1:45.. Anyone else running the National?

My home town! My sister ran the marathon last year and I ran the 5k back in 2001. If you're not familiar with the area you will be overwhelmed with the awesome scenery. Not a lot of spectator support, but I heard they have the best water stops of any events. I heard they actually have a contest between the stops.

I live in Ogden, I love to go up the canyon where the run starts to cross country ski. It should be a great run.

Well, I made my goal. Time was 1:44:20 However, it could have been better. It seems there was a problem with the 1/2 marathon distance. My Garmin read 13.8 miles at the finish. Several others at the finish line were complaining that theirs was reading 13.5 or 13.6. There is alot of talk about this on other web sites and even some talk the the organizers are going to come out with an apology. One other issue was a lack of porta potties. There were none on the course until Mile 9 and then there was only 1 to accomodate 5000 runners. Oh well. Other than that, it was a good race through DC with, great views of the monuments, the rivers and various neighorhoods. This race can be first class if they get better and more experienced help.

I'm also running the HM on Mother's Day. My goal is to set a PR... this is my fourth HM, and my fastest time so far is 1:38. I know this HM has hills, but so did my last one. I actually have a race this Saturday (21 Apr), but it is only a 10 mile run (benefiting Breast Cancer Awareness). I'm actually thinking of Saturday’s race as part of my training plan. Although my competitive nature might get the best of me, I am not planning on running this Saturday’s race hard. D

Great news on the 10-mile race, Dim! I am planning to do my 2nd half at the end of summer. My 16-week training plan just started, and the last 2 weeks just before the half I will be on vacation (which hopefully includes lots of running!). It's the San Diego half on Aug. 19th. My first half was at Carlsbad this January, and that was without speedwork or hill training, so I'm hoping to PR in San Diego after some more serious training.

Are you doing speed work and hills now? Good luck on the up coming HM!

Thanks! I've just started doing some speed work - one tempo run and one interval session so far. It's pretty hard for me, but I'll try to do 1/week and hopefully it will get easier as I learn to push myself more. My normal courses have some little hills on them, and I will start to do some hill repeats as I get a few weeks into my training. This was my first full week of training. I'll take any recommendations if you have some! Thanks, deb