The year is half way done! Come here to share your running goals and aspirations. New, old, 1/2 mile or marathon, we don't care - we're ALL runners!

3 miles for me this morning and that puts me at 500 miles so far this year, right on track for 1000. My knees have felt really good the last couple days.

Sunday I'm scheduled for 12, excited and a little nervous. Last time I ran that far was last year.

Happy July!!!

nothing to be nervous about Ncuneo... you know exactly what to expect! its just a training run... relax into it and try to enjoy it! Have you tried listening to audio books or podcasts on long runs? they help SO MUCH with making the time go by and not getting bored.... if you dont already, you should start looking for Podcasts and books that interest you....... once you start doing 4 hour, 5 hour training runs........ ITS A LONG TIME to be alone in your head... and when you are going for that long music just doesnt cut it.. in my opinion

so, im driving up to North Dakota tonight.. planning on being there till tuesday or wedsday.... Im excited to get some really great runs in.... LONG runs Last time i was up there i felt like i could literally run forever, effortlessly! SO MUCH OXYGEN! lol it truly makes a HUGE difference!~ I havent done any run longer than 12 or 13 miles since last fall, so im planning/hoping to just go for it! a big 17-20 miler....which reminds me, i need to pack my camel back.....

Any advice you ladies can give me right now on how to improve on my distance? I can run 4.5 miles right now, without stopping. Maybe 5, but I can confidently say 4.5. I would really, really like to work myself up to a 10k, then 1/2 marathon. Not so worried about speed... Just distance. Thanks in advance. With that being said, my July running goal is to be able to run 10k without stopping. Not concerned with how long it takes me (for now), just that I can do it.

MKRoyer: 20 miles! Wow! Enjoy the fresh air!

I don't run long distances, but I will have to check out some podcasts. Which do you like?

I'm currently training for a 10k, the farthest I can run without stopping right now is about 3 miles, so I've got a way to go! The training programme I'm using is here if you're interested:

http://www.halhigdon.com/10ktraining/10knovice.htm

I think it's all about building up your distances gradually and improving your fitness with cross training.

My goal this month is to stay on target with my training, so it will be running 3 times a week and by the end of the month I'll be running 5 miles without stopping!

mkroyer I love listening to podcasts. It keeps me much more entertained than music!

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I'm halfway through my one-week pledge for no exercise. I'm hoping my body will continue to enjoy it's vacation and be ready for 10K on Tuesday when I return to running.

I think this whole exercise sabbatical has been helpful. I'm looking forward to returning to working out.... I think I took a break right before I was about to burn out, mentally and physically.

@ Riestrella, thanks! I'll check that out

Podcasts would be grear except I don't have an iPod I wonder if there are any Android apps like podcasts? Hmm

nikki, 4.5 had been my best as well and I did 5 this morning. You're so close - it's gotta be mental at this point. What makes you not go the extra half - fatigue, specific pain, thirst?

The other thing that's made it harder for me is that it's starting to get hotter and humid, which has a HUGE impact for me - are you finding that as well?

I'm doing a 10K in September so want to feel like I can comfortably run 6 by the end of July. Unfortunately as I increased my distance beyond 5K, I've slowed down to about a 12 minute mile. Not worrying about it for now, hoping I can start to improve that once I've got the 10K distance down.

Hmmm, podcasts never thought of that.

This morning was epic, it was 85+ and 64% humidity. OMG it was brutal, but I had an awesome pace and felt really good. I was surprised to have a good run since I was 3000+ cals on Friday and Saturday and was pretty sure I was going to tank it. But I felt fantastic. And I discovered I've been cheating myself by not refuling mid-run. Holy cow did my performance improve! My GPS started freaking out about 9 miles in so I'm not positive what my pace was, but I'm pretty sure it was a PR. Either way I felt good and I'm glad I survived the humidity since my race is in Chicago, but remind me not to train for an August race again!

Hi there! I'm just starting out running (I used to do it but not competitively or anything just a couple times a week) and have been running almost everyday (aside from yesterday as my legs were a bit achy) for about a week now and i can get up to about 5K with a couple 2 minute breaks in about 28 minutes and I'm wanting to be able to run a 10K without stopping by the end of the month

One small question: can I run using old, kinda worn out running shoes or is that making me more prone to injury?

I did a 5k yesterday and my speed had improved to 16 min per mile. So today when I was out for my long run of the week, which moved up to 5 miles, I kept reminding myself to keep up the pace. I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and realized I had kept the 16 min per mile pace for the entire run.

PLEASE get new shoes chooks. You are asking for trouble. Running shoes are not the time to be cheap either. Go to a running store, get fitted and get the right shoes for you.

Way to go envelope!

Awesome! Good runs are so unpredictable. I wish I could find a pattern!

My three sons and I did a race together on Sunday, but I didn't get much actual running in this holiday weekend. They have been wanting to do a race with me. They had fun and enjoyed the experience, but they all agreed that they were never running another race again LOL It was hot and sunny. They hadn't trained, and it wasn't a normal race with T-shirts, timing chips, and cheering fans. In my opinion, it was much, much better than the average race, but I can see why they missed the hype. My youngest and I took second to last place in the race and had a darn good time doing it! I wrote about it in my blog and even have a couple of rare photos if you want to read more about our Do Life race experience.