Training for my first half marathon

So, you've heard how I was kicked in the tail (or chest) to get off my butt and get some exercise or else. Well, I recovered from the surgery and fought HARD to come back strong. Within only 24 hours I walked from intensive care into a standard room. Why intensive care you ask? Well, the surgeons had to slice my heart open to get to one of the arteries that needed to be bypassed. This meant I had to be put on life support for roughly 2 hours while extra surgeons and specialists were called in to assist. Which is why I had to be sent to I.C.U. to recover. So, after recovering for a week in the hospital, I was sent to post op rehab for light strength and conditioning.
It was in the rehab that I found my stride (pardon the pun). Part of my rehab involved running on a treadmill for 20 minutes with my heart rate at 125 BPM or lower. The nurses kept getting on to me because I would speed up because I didn't feel like I was doing any good at that speed. I realized then that the exercise I enjoy is running. So after finishing my 6 weeks of rehab, I gave myself a full year post op to recover before starting the couch to 5K app on my phone. My wife was on board knowing that I needed to exercise but, was understandably nervous. I started running the country roads around our home in the sticks. I picked a local run (The Patriot Half Marathon) hosted by the local running club and set my goal. The race was on scheduled for Memorial Day 2013 (hence the patriot part). And it was now April 2nd. I had work to do.
I ran the race and huffed and puffed my way across the finish line to an unexpected emotional roller coaster. I've never experienced that kind of emotional response before but I knew it was addicting right off the bat. The following June, I was approached by one of my facebook friends to join a team that he was assembling to run the half marathon at the Metro PCS Dallas Marathon in December 2013. I told him I'd have to think it over since I'd never run that far before. After some consideration, I agreed to join the group. It was a decision that made a HUGE difference in my way of thinking about running. It turned out that one of the guys is a well established triathlete who is well versed in the needs of someone who is training for their first half marathon. He assembled and entire weekly run/workout schedule for us and provided just the kind of focus I need to accomplish a goal like finishing my first half marathon. Thanks Brad!!
So, now I had roughly 6 months to train for my very first half marathon. Onward & Upward!!! Let's Go!! Like a well oiled machine, I trained EVERY time I was supposed to according to the plan that Brad had laid out for us. I was UBER focused on the goal here! As December approached, the weather turned very quickly (as it tends to do in North Texas). The day prior to the race a Major ice storm takes over the Dallas Forth Worth metroplex. We are covered under 2 inches of solid ice in certain areas of the metroplex. Now, I'm sitting on pins & needles waiting to hear whether the race is going to be cancelled due to the weather. Well as many of us know, the race WAS indeed cancelled due to the ice on the race course and I was PISSED! Now, I have done ALL this training for NOTHING?? NO!!! I chose to find another race on my own so that my training would not be all for not. So, I found The Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth (which happens to be my old stomping grounds) scheduled for February 2014. OK! Now, I have to keep my conditioning going and make sure I'm ready for The Cowtown instead!

I'll get into the details of the race later. But suffice it to say, it was an even BIGGER emotional roller coaster than my 5K race back in May. More to come...