Everyone should have goals.

I started this blog several years ago in an attempt to chronicle my efforts at running the Marine Corps Marathon. What I found out was that training for a marathon is hard, maybe even harder than the race itself, though I wouldn't know since I have yet to complete the 26.2 miles. Depending on one's pace, at the height of the training program, one could spend seven or more hours a week pounding the pavement. If you have a full-time job and a couple of side jobs, running for the equivalent of a workday can be a little hard to accommodate.

Training time for the half marathon is much shorter, the longest runs are around 10 miles, which is eight-plus miles less than most marathon plans' longer runs. At nine minutes a mile, that's only 90 minutes of running, plus cooldown. Doable.

From what I've read, just the physical toll that the marathon takes on a body is another reason to pick a shorter distance. If the marathoner is walking a little slower and missing a couple of toenails, the half-marathoner, by comparison, is kicking up his heels, ready to go out dancing.

So, I am changing my goal to the half. I was signed up for the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon, but it's a spring race and I hadn't been training during the winter, which is an absolute necessity. I'll focus on building up my distance and strength over the summer, and maybe pick a 13.1 miler in the fall, and combine that with a couple days away with my wife.

Of course, I'm not doing this just to run a half marathon. The overarching goal is weight loss

In a nod that being over-40 means I'm not as flexible as I was in my 20s or 30s, I am also exploring other ways to get in shape. Never a gym rat, I'm not a fan of the lift-things-up-and-put-them-down way of exercising. It works for other people, just not me. What has piqued my curiosity is the disciplines that focus on strength and flexibility, and yoga seems to offer both. I have picked up a copy of Sage Rountree's The Runner's Guide to Yoga. A friend of mine, also a firefighter and an avid runner, says it helped him with flexibility and balance while running.

In the days ahead, I'll try and post every run, on the same day if possible. I welcome any comments and helpful hints, particularly on what apps and training gear people use. I'm always on the lookout for better ways to do things.

Baby Steps.

It's been several months, but I finally got out there. Just 1.3-and-change miles (a far cry from the five or six miles I did with ease just a year ago) and it was tough. And in a summer of moderate temperatures and low humidity, I pick the muggiest morning in weeks to go out.

Still, it was something. Now, the challenge is to turn this something into more somethings, at least a couple times per week.

I have a couple of motivations for doing this.

The first, and foremost, is to be healthy. When I was running last summer, I was in the best shape in years, and likely my life. My resting heart rate was in the mid-60s (unheard of for me before then), and my weight got as low as 189 pounds, where I hadn't been since high school. Predictably, a lot of the clothing and uniforms I had either didn't fit well, or actually fit better, though more (much more) the former than the latter. I actually downsized my turnout gear in the firehouse.

Now, I'm back up to 207 pounds (still a lot lower than the 244 I was sworn in at nine-plus years ago), and items that fit much better are getting a little - in some cases more than a little - tight again. I've reached the comfort limit of my turnout gear, and there isn't really an option to upsize the gear again, especially since the fire department is about to put seven new members through the academy, and they'll be taking the spare gear.

I have a goal of running the entire Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon. I've done the race once, but only ran about half of it, with not a lot of training. I want to do the whole thing, and the goal for that is next May.

Another reason is to make studying easier. I'm doing a lot of reading and note-taking in preparation for the Captain's test, tentatively scheduled for mid-November. I'm hoping that by getting in shape now, I'll study better. After all, just about every study out there says your brain functions better when the rest of the body does.

And finally, I'm no spring chicken. Everything hurts a little bit each day, some more than others, and it will only get worse. I don't want to put myself in a position to be hurt at work because I pre-hurt myself by letting things go. Getting into shape, and maybe doing a bit of yoga here or there, might help to forestall that.

http://t.co/9EeTZYabOQ. Sanya Richards-Ross was my post-run motivator.

Week Three - Day Four, Sunday, August 4th

Because the training program calls for a day off before and after my long runs, and my last run was Friday, I had to move the long run for the third week to Sunday from Saturday. And fortuitous timing it was: Temperatures in the sixties, and low humidity. Perfect.

As has been the case with long previous runs, and in keeping with my intended strategy for the marathon, I inserted a one-minute break after every 10 minutes of running, even when I knew I could go past the ten minutes without stopping. My course stayed very local, no more than a mile or so at any time between any two points, but because the folks who laid out the neighborhood seemed to be allergic to straight lines, by taking several streets within a given development, I was able to reach the goal with ease.

The two straight roads I used, Chestnut and Mapletree, are almost a mile in length each, and the far ends of both have smaller streets off them, so I could avoid Hooper Avenue, and then return. I took a turn into Lilac, then a couple streets off Lilac. Crossing OFR, I went into a much older section, probably built in the Sixties or Seventies, and took a tour through there, then ended by where I started.

Conditioning must be getting better. Just a few months or even weeks ago, a break after running for ten minutes would have been something closer to ten more minutes, for it would have taken that long for my breathing to return to normal. Now, I wasn't even winded, and my legs felt great, at least in first half. After my last break, I felt good enough that I gave extra effort for the final mile or so, and cut off more than a minute in time from the previous mile.

I am noticing that my breathing is still much better than the fatigue in my legs. I'm not sure if this is something that will correct itself, but in time, the legs did seem to relax, though the left hip flexor seems to get irritated pretty quickly. I haven't been stretching, though I know I should.

One of the Marathon Jims I work with lent me a book of Yoga for runners. I had been considering taking a yoga, but my schedule is tight enough to fit in some runs, I'm not sure how I'm going to get yoga classes in.

For the upcoming week, I had to drop one of the scheduled short runs of three miles, because of Sunday's long run, and getting the long run back to Saturday for the next week, I'm looking at three consecutive days of running. So, on the advice of the other Marathon Jim, I felt it better to cut out a short run.

No Nike Pep-Talker today, and no records broken. Humbug