I think I may have my sights set on the Coast to Coast challenge for 2010. I saw the medal that people got this year, and am very bummed I couldn't commit to the DL 1/2 to get that medal. It's too late to register for the WDW 1/2 for 2009, and I don't think I'm prepared to do another marathon given my lingering knee problems.

Like Steph trains, will you? I know you walk a lot at Disneyland and work but how many miles is that?

One thing in the favor or races, they start early. So, you can use up all of your energy and then go home and pass out.

Not that I know anything about that....:D

I should probably look into doing one of these sometime - walking. I don't run.

I know I can't run that far. I think I am going to train and see if I can mix in running with it. I tried it today, almost 1 mile walk/running. I didn't run the whole mile, but, I only walked to catch myself and then went again.

But, that was only for 3 miles. I need it to not be hot. So....I don't think I'd do this one you guys did. I need one in the cooler months.......start off early and be finished when the day starts to warm up.

Lisa, you walk a lot with your pooches, right? Just like Matt walks a lot with his work. That is a head start. :snap:

I walk about 6 miles a day on average. But, it's not always a fast walk and we do stop to pee.

Doing a walk/run is probably the way to go, unless you can maintain a fast walk the whole time. For Disney races, there are time cutoffs, so you need to be able to maintain an average 16 min/mile pace (approx.).

I would suggest checking out some books at the library for some example beginner training plans. John Bingham's books are good for people who are interested in doing a walk/run program.

Good for you for giving it a go! I hope you stick with it.

The Jeff Galloway programs emphasize a run/walk method too. I used his program to get ready for this year's race.

In a nutshell, his program starts with building yourself up to walking 30 mins. without being winded, then adding in short jogging intervals until you work yourself up to adding walking breaks into your jog. Does that make any sense?

I know this is going to come as a complete surprise to everyone...but I'm a highly competitive person. :p Last year when I was training for my 5K and 10K and saw it more as weakness to walk in my runs, but since I was giving a much longer race a try this year I decided to try the run/walk method. I was amazed at how well it works and how my time really didn't suffer as a result of the walking breaks. One last tidbit from the Cliff Bar Pace Team, they say that if you can work yourself up to jogging 5 miles...they say you can easily complete a Half Marathon using the run/walk method.

Now, a 16 min. mile isn't a stroll in the park, but it isn't a terribly brisk pace either. If anyone is curious to see what their natural pace is, I would suggest going down to your local high school and walking their track to get an idea of where you stand.

A 15 minute mile is 4.0 on a treadmill. I believe a 16 minute mile is 3.8

I did run/walk for both of my marathons. For the second one, my goal was to bring down my time, so I worked up to doing 1 mile of running followed by a walk break, to approximate walking at the aid stations. I ended up finishing in just over my goal of 5:30. The first marathon I did 8 minutes run/2 minutes walk. It works, and keeps you from totally crapping out at the end.