Slowly Getting Faster

This year for my birthday, I'm running a half marathon with my wife. That's actually what I'm asking for. Training starts in about a week and a half. It has been over 2 years since we have seriously trained for a race, so I'm actually looking forward to the speed work and the tempo runs and the rest of it. We're planning on doing strength training for the first time this go 'round. Hopefully we'll see some improvements in our performance, or at least reduction in injuries. Here we go again!

Photo by:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/ I have sort of been a runner for a long time. I guess all kids like to run at a certain age, but the world tells us that running isn't fun pretty early in life. So, I didn't really start running in earnest until I joined my high school's cross country team as a junior. No one got cut from the cross country team, and I liked that. So, I ran. Every day after school in the heat of the late Las Vegas summer, I put on a cotton shirt (I don't even know if tech tees existed back then), and I ran, then walked, then staggered, then ran some more. Eventually I just ran. I was slow, at least by cross country team standards. I pretty much had one goal in high school cross country: don't be last in a race. I was never last! I came really close in a few races, though. I think I was second to last more than once. But I was never last. When I graduated, I swore I would never run more than a few miles again. I think th...