I ran a 10k five years ago, but the last half-marathon was ten years ago. From 1998 until 2013, I ran 60 half-marathons, about four per year. My fastest one was 2 hours and 12 minutes, exactly 10-minute miles. That isn’t very fast, but it’s not bad for a fat Pastor. I will run a half-marathon on April 6th, and I did my first official training today. I walked/ran two miles on my treadmill at a three percent grade at a 15-minute mile pace, that is, four miles per hour, and when I was finished, my pulse was 125 bpm. My goal is to run the half on April 6th in 2 hours and 40 minutes, twelve-minute miles, but I will be happy with a three-hour finish time, which is 13.75-minute miles, a fast walk.

About six other people have expressed interest in running this same half-marathon with me, or a better way to say it is running in the same event. I want to form a little running group, and all we would do would be to report to each other what we have done in the way of training, like what I did at the start of this blog.

A fundamental principle is that what we can’t do alone is a breeze when we do it with others. I plan on walking/running on my treadmill three times a week, riding on my stationary bike three times a week, and lifting weights three times a week. So, I would email a report of what I did to those in my accountability group once a week. We can encourage and harass each other so that we are faithful in our training. We might even schedule a couple of runs together if it works out.

If you want to be in this group with me, email me at duke@jbc.church. If you want to just run, walk, bike, or exercise for health and aren’t interested in doing the half-marathon, that would be fine as well; the more, the merrier.

It is December; it is time to start writing your 2024 goals. I would love to get a copy of yours.