Happy New Year!

A new year means a whole new training schedule! I’ve been off distance running for some time now, but I have several half marathons on the schedule for 2013 that I need to get prepared for. The first race is the Honolulu Hapalua, brought to you by the same great team as the Honolulu Marathon. I did the inaugural race last year, and now I feel like I need to commit to it; my friend Amanda has already decided we will be the 70 year old ladies who are honored in 2043 for completing every run since its inception. But, in order to even imagine doing that, I need to make sure I train in a reasonable way to prevent injury. I’m also trying to improve my time this year, which is why I’m including some hill training days as well as tempo runs. The plan looks like this:

For my hill runs, I’ll be including some of the steeper climbs in my neighborhood (Diamond Head and Kilauea next to KCC), which my training partner isn’t too excited about, but he’ll thank me later.

I really enjoy the half marathon distance; it’s long enough for me to require a formalizing training schedule, but short enough to avoid hysterical sobbing on the course (see my full marathon story for those details!) I also like being able to dedicate time to other physical endeavors; something I wasn’t really able to fit in while preparing for my full marathon. And I’m not alone in feeling this way; the half marathon is the fastest growing road racing distance in the US.

What about you? Any half marathons on your schedule? Which distance is your favorite?