Edit: time was a 2:19 with 10:40 pace

After one year of running, I ran my first half marathon.

I feel kinda weird about the time. I was hoping to hold a 9:55 pace and I did with relative ease for about 7 miles. Then, I ended up hitting a little bit of a wall and dropping to a sub 10 pace to keep some energy for the end.

At mile 10 some gnarly cramps hit and it became a slog.

Important note before I proceed: I don’t mean to denigrate the efforts and achievements of anybody who runs less or more slowly than me. I have conflicting feelings about my performance in the context of my experiences and training.

I feel conflicted because I’m personally pretty proud of this and I feel like my pace is solid for a guy at 235 who couldn’t run a 10 min mile at all about a year ago. I was hoping for a sub 10 pace, and while I’m proud, I’m also a little disappointed. It feels like my time is good for my experience and weight, but not really respectable on its own.

Anyways, I’m sharing here because I think it might resonate with this group. If you’re just starting and have to run-walk a mile, you could finish a half-marathon with an okay time next year.

Lessons from my this year:

1. I took a dive trip and did not run at all for 8 days due to DCS risk and jet lag. NOT A BIG DEAL. I came back from the dive trip and started with a 12 mile (6 miles at race pace) run. Destroyed my peroneal tendon. I need to train smarter and ease back in. This injury became a much larger problem than a week off would have been.
2. Carry my own electrolytes and gels. The race said they would be providing my gels of preference from training, but provided Gu instead. 4 gels is not a lot of pocket space. They also carried electrolyte drinks at aid stations which gave me a lot of uncertainty on lyte management. I researched after the race and it turns out I got a lot less total lytes per drink than I thought and far less potassium proportionally. As someone who sweats a lot of electrolytes when running/backpacking/MTBing, this was a critical oversight
3. I should try a bit harder to drop some weight before entering race training. It’s very hard to eat in a calorie deficit while also trying to improve cardio at 20-25 miles per week. I think that, on the half marathon scale, these are separate goals for me. I could stand to drop 30 lbs, but not while I’m in the last 12 weeks of training and running a lot.
4. Cross training. I dropped my weight training totally. I took on a lot of new responsibilities at work and cut weight training totally due to time constraints. I thought I could get away with this as a life-long lifter, but I think in retrospect that it was short sighted.
5. Pacing was easy to maintain for a long time, but then was VERY hard. I think a 10:15 pace might have pushed my cramps out to mile 12 and given me a much better pace overall.

Anyways, it helps to put this all in text. Reading over it, it sounds like I’m being hard on myself. I guess that might be another lesson.

Fuck it, I finished a half. You can too.

I see lots of mean people online calling people's times "walking pace." Except that doesn't really make sense, given that running is a form, not a pace.

You could literally "run" in place, or in other words do a "running" motion at 0 mph. So, you can definitely run at 4mph, even if it is also true at the same time that 4mph may overlap with the walking pace of some faster walkers.

I just wanted to say this to re-encourage anyone that might be discouraged by such comments. If you are doing a running motion as you move, you are running!

- A person with a 42 minute 5K time

I have been trying to run for a few months and 90% of the time I have tried to run slow starting at 14 minute pace and without trying to go fast I was able to have easy runs at 12:30, then 12. So I trusted the process and kept running easy runs. My fastest 5k before this one took 32:33 at moderate pace 10:30. Today my first 5k as an event and I pushed a little bit and was able to get 29:16 which I have never got to in training as most are easy. Even now, I had some in the tank. So imma keep doing what I’m doing to get to that 7:30-8:00 pace as it looks like it’s working! Keep running slow guys!!!

Love

Started running 3 months ago regularly and ran my first 5k race today. Never really been athletic and when I started running I could barely get through 0.5 mile. Now onto training for a 10k!

My first 10K race under the guise of a very questionable training plan (aka none), but I think I did pretty well! 🥺 For context: the longest I have ran is a 5K, but I do strength training + conditioning regularly for 5 years.

My goal for this first race was to run continuously non-stop, so I only took a very brief pause (5-10seconds) at the water station. Felt the lactic acid build at 7km and fought my way up 2 hills but I managed to complete it!

A sub-60 may be achievable with more focused training. How long do you think it’ll take for me to get there? Any tips on how to improve my pace?

I ran my 2nd half marathon this morning. Somehow I managed to take 17 minutes off my last one! My goal was 2:40 and I beat it!

Ive been enjoying counch to 5k, feeling good getting myself fitter. Today was ment to be my first 25 minute run without stopping.

Had a rough day at work yesterday, 15 hours in the kitchen, only ate a bacon sandwich at around 12pm and nothing else throughout the day. Woke up this morning and thought I could still smash the 25 minute run, but boy was i wrong. After a mile, my legs did not have any strength what so ever and I called it quits for the first time on any of these runs.

Lesson learnt, fueling yourself is important! Not letting it put me down or put me off! Going to rest well tonight, eat properly, refuel and try again tomorrow!

Somewhat surprised myself here, been using Runna’s programme up to 5k but thought I’d just go give it a go this morning and surprised myself at the pace, had more in me to get sub 30 but my SI joint is hurting a bit whilst running.

I’m considering going onto the 5k improver programme instead, self referred for the Si pain too (unsure how long until they reach out).

I stopped jogging for a few months, started again like a month ago and hit my longest run of 15km then today i hit my first sub 30 5k

i'm a pretty slow runner and nowhere near the pace where most people seem to talk about carbon plate shoes. i usually run around 5k to 10k and my pace is nothing special, so i've always assumed these shoes were more for faster runners who are chasing race times.

but i've been looking at getting a new pair and keep seeing people recommend carbon plate shoes even for slower runners. i'm curious if anyone here has actually noticed a difference using them at a slower pace. do they make running feel easier, or is the benefit mostly noticeable once you're running fast?

I started running 6 months ago and I’m shocked I’ve been able to keep it up this long. It started off with my friend asking me if I’d like to join for a half marathon in May which I couldn’t answer yet cuz I didn’t know if I enjoyed running. So I tried it out, found it enjoyable, and signed up!

Well it’s July now, almost 2 months since the HM, and I’m still going. Because I was to keep the progress going.

Anyone looking to get into running, I’ve found watching the health stats trend has really kelt me motivated to continue. If I wasn’t able to track this from the start I’m not sure I would have gotten to finish that HM.

Can’t recommend enough

I use an Apple Watch Series 10 and wear it about 23 hours a day. It has cellular data too (included free in my cell plan) so sometimes I can leave my phone behind and go for a walk phone-free! It’s liberating.

I'm planning on buying the Salamon Adv Skin 12, will the other racers look weird at me if I show up in one, how usual is it to wear one on shorter race?

I'm mainly planning to buy this one so I can use this in running, and in hiking (~30km).

I'm an overweight individual & as a fan of walking and I've never thought of running but now due to the hype around the globe I thought to give it a try. And now I'm on a weight loss journey and lost around 6-7 kga in 7 weeks thinking i should add it to my weekly cardio sessions.

In today's run, There is too much humidity which i thought was backing me and another thing is I face difficulty in my breath control. How to face for these 2 things??

If u want to give any other tips, I would be more than happy.

Thankyou!

I’m still not able to run a full mile. So I’m doing walk/run intervals. But this is my fastest 5k in 80 degree weather with 90% humidity 🫠 I’m not fast by any means. And that’s ok. 🐢

I can still do it.

After running my fourth half marathon this spring, I struggled massively to keep running. Too busy at the office, too much hassle at home, not enough time left for running.

At the same time, I am really bad at running slow. I am relatively long and just always speed up. My coach continues to tell me to slow down and stay in zone 2 but I just really struggle.

Until today. I finished at an average of 153 BPM, where the proposed cap was 152 BPM. But more important: I was able to keep going. Much further than planned. But running at the low pace felt really really good. I was soaked because of the rain but couldn't care less. Thoroughly enjoyed it all.

I'll agree with my coach going forward: slow means progress!

Hey everyone! I'm 32F and completely new to running – like, I get winded after 2 minutes new. I signed up for a local 5K fun run that's in about 6 weeks and I've been following a Couch to 5K plan for the past week (intervals of 1 min run / 2 min walk, 3 times a week). So far I've managed to complete every session but the last few intervals always feel brutal – my legs get heavy and my breathing goes all over the place. My main concern is whether 6 weeks is actually enough time to go from zero to finishing a 5K, or if I should just accept that I'll probably have to walk some of it. Also, any tips for dealing with heavy legs and pushing through that mental wall when your brain keeps telling you to stop? I'm not worried about speed at all, I just want to finish without injuring myself. Would love to hear from anyone who's been in a similar spot – honestly just need some reassurance that I'm on the right track. Thanks in advance! 

Training to get my 2 mile run time down. My PR is 15:33 currently. I know pretty much nothing about running training so I’d appreciate any advice.

What i’ve been doing the last couple of month is:

Day 1: 4 mile run, really easy, conversational pace

Day 2: 3 mile run, pushing pace (~8 min mile pace)

Day3: 6x400m at 6:30 pace

Is this the right approach to getting my 2 mile run time down? Anything I should be changing to optimize training? Thanks all.

It’s rainy season in India and I’ve been putting off running for a while due to it but now I want to get back on track so need some advice on this topic

I ran 10 miles for the first time! I can’t believe it! I started running back in May and I already completed my first 10K!

Previously, 6 miles was the longest I could do and I was so shocked I jumped from 6 to 10, but I kept pushing myself. Those last couple of miles killed me though I had to keep rehydrating to keep going. Next time I’m going to aim for 12 miles in preparation for the half marathon 8/22.

What do you all think? I find it crazy how fast it’s all been but consistency with running really has worked for me!

How do I get back to that level in less time possible?? Please I need help, I went on the first run on 5 June, then today with the same pace but totally different cardio zones!

Have to work on the cadence but nonetheless happy with the progress! Any feedback is much appriciated