in the beginning:

about a year ago, catherine and i decided to be much, much healthier people. what began with eating our greens and giving up two of my very favourite things (bread and wine, the two main food groups) spiralled into thinking we should, you know, exercise or something. so it was with much trepidation that we trotted off to up & running to purchase trainers, and our fears were not unfounded because they film your feet while you're running on a treadmill AND IT'S IN THE FRONT WINDOW. there is really no way on this earth to look good at any point during this test, but you know, the trainers are awesome and still going strong after a year so i think it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

we started running in august, and by "started" i mean we'd run two minutes, walk five, and still feel like we were dying a slow and painful death for the next half hour. in the beginning we wore bulky cotton clothes and only went out after dark, and we ususally had purple faces for a good thirty minutes after we'd finished. by november we'd stuck to it, surprising everyone including ourselves, and by christmas we were running for thirty minutes each time.

then came new year's eve. there was a lot of wine on new year's eve, and the indulgence in some champagne, and the (semi) ridiculous notion of running the belfast marathon was first mentioned, and before you know it we had somehow committed to sharing the marathon with our good friend vic. don't ask me how, because i was the one drinking wine at the time, but when april rolled around and the marathon loomed large, there was some panicking and some nervous biting of lips and some lurching stomachs as we experienced The Fear (tm). you can read my marathon experience here and you can feel like you were there too.

in the heady euphoria that comes with completing a race, it always seems like a good idea to bite off more than you can chew the next time, and so the very day of the marathon we decided that we needed something else to aim for. why we couldn't have picked a halfway point, i have no idea, but hey, why not jump in with both feet eh?

and so the half marathon madness was born. stay tuned for our training programme, running playlists, and most importantly, how to keep running when you think you're about to need resuscitation.

awesome!!