Thursday, April 24, 2008

Learning the Craft...... A New Series

Anytime you're embarking on a new endeavor you try to find out as much as you can about it.  For us, this 'new' endeavor is running and not just running for the sake of running but building on that ability to run a marathon, specifically the Aramco Houston Half marathon. The Aramco Half Marathon is part of the Chevron Houston Marathon which takes place on January 18, 2009.  All three of us at some point have dabbled in running but quite honestly, it has been a while and never to this caliber.  And if you are reading this blog you are probably in the same boat as us. With that in mind, we welcome you to take this journey with us!
One of the many reasons people give up on pursuing their hopes and dreams is that they don't have all the tools necessary to make solid decisions. As part of Learning the Craft, each week we will profile a different aspect of running in hopes of providing you with as much knowledge about an area as possible. This week we will look at what you should consider when you begin a new running program.  In researching this topic, I found several websites that have good information as to how to go about doing this.  There are age appropriate sites like Kid's running, sites that speak to your style like Cool running and sites that are strickly serious like Strickly running . While the site you choose is ultimately up to you, the site that I like most and will probably refer to a lot on this post is Runner's World. In their article titled, The Runner's World 8-week Beginning Runner's Training Program, they suggest doing four things to prepare for a lifelong love affair with running. I have paraphrased it below but you can click on the article title to get the full monty. 
1. First and foremost, see a doctor before you begin any type of exercise program. 
2. Schedule your workouts. Doing this ensures you make time for them.  
3. Stick with the program. Don't let one bad workout take you out of the game.
4. Be patient.

The other thing you can expect to get on this blog is my two cents. That being said I would like to add something to the 4 tips above: 
5. Consider getting a new running outfit or two. Let's be serious, while scheduling and being patient with workouts is important, nothing beats the running blues like looking good doing it.

Til next time......

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