On 30 April, 25 days from today, I plan to run the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. I ran the race last year, my first half-marathon, my first race, ever, with a time of 2 hours 26 minutes. I ran pretty much the entire route.

It's amazing to me how easy it is to completely lose the fitness. It seems like about a month after the race a year ago, I felt I couldn't run a couple miles. I was able to get myself a bit more fit and ran a 5K in the Fall and then spent the Winter just trying to stay somewhat in shape.

Starting at the first of the year, I began training for this year's upcoming half-marathon. I began by running three days a week, about four miles each day.

As that became easier, I increased the distance gradually. I'm up to seven miles, three days a week for a total of 21 miles per week. I feel I should be running around 25 miles a week to be "ready" for a half-marathon.

Beginning in March, about a month ago, I added weight loss to my routine. I've been doing diet meal replacement shakes and generally watching what I eat. I lost about 7 pounds in March and hope to lose at least that many before the race on 30 April.

I've been running the indoor track at the South Jordan Recreation Center, but since the J. L. Sorenson Recreation Center opened up in Herriman, we've moved my daughters to swim with the swim teams that practice there. Logically, I should start running there. The Herriman rec center has an indoor track as well, but it's a little smaller (11 laps to a mile vs. 10 laps to a mile) and it's a carpeted track. Ugh. Plus, the air is warmer. And, it's more crowded.

So, yeah, my first impressions of running on the track at the new rec center haven't been superb, but I realize I need to see these not as inhibitors, but as challenges I must learn to overcome.

Obviously, if the weather is permitting, I can and should run outside. I generally like to do this if the temperature is between 45 and 65 degrees. We'll see how it goes.