My First half marathon!

It's cumulative miles over time that build your fitness. Before my first HM, in 2006, my long run never exceeded 10 miles. I made out just fine, running under my goal time. There are only a couple pieces of advice that I will give.

Don't go out too fast
Don't do anything new the night before of the day of the race
Don't go out too fast

Yes, Carson has it right!
I would also add: enjoy it! And don't worry if you do feel the need to take a little walk. I did my first HM in early September and I was worried because I'd done 13.3 and didn't feel prepared...it was fine and yes I did have 3 or 4 walk breaks and finished under goal time :glasses: I'm doing my second one this Sunday!
Good luck!

Congratulations......always said I would do a marathon, than I realized I was just lying to myself. I love watching them though! Good Luck....

I just finished my first half last weekend. Many good tips so far. What I did that helped me:
-STAY HYDRATED walked through water stops and took two cups. You should be getting 8oz every half hour and if water stops are every 2-3 miles and the 10oz cups are half full you will need two.
-PACE YOURSELF it would be really easy to take off and try to keep pace with everyone else. You have done some long runs so you know where you are with your pace. Just find it and stick to it. After a few miles you may have a tendency to start trying to hang with other runners just make sure it is at your pace and not too fast OR to slow. I caught myself going to slow a few times.
-LISTEN to your body, you said your getting over a knee injury. If it starts to bother you there is no shame in stopping and not finishing. I was injured last week and ran anyway. While I finished and was proud of the accomplishment I have set my training back by weeks by injuring myself even further.
-HAVE FUN, get there early, warm up, soak it in, hang out at the finish, make sure you have someone at the finish or on the route to root for you.

Good luck. I was very glad to finally get my first half done. As soon has my leg heals I will be traning for the next one.

Also, in case it wasn't clear: "Don't go out to fast"

I definitely made that mistake on my first half a couple of weeks ago. I paid in both a slower time, and more pain. (In my defense I thought i was going out at a reasonable pace based on my training runs, but the route was a lot hillier than my training route and I didn't take it into account.)

I've done like 7 half marathons and haven't gotten to do a full yet (but will get there)!

My advice: like previous posts, make sure you don't do anything different the day before. Make sure you wake up early to have a great breakfast to have some energy during your first half marathon (so exciting!!). You might want to consider eating more carbs the day before (or 3 days), called carb loading. I've never done this - I was always afraid to mess up the "routine". Make sur eyou have some tunes if you are running alone. If you have a 'special someone' that can run the last 5k with you, it's awesome! Dress accordingly, have nutrition during your run - if that's how you prepped... Get a good night's sleep But most importantly, don't start too fast, that can ruin this awesome experience. Enjoy the run and take it all in!! Remember, finish upright and smiling! Hope you have 3 goals: 1) finishing the half marathon 2) finishing at desired time 3) finishing under desired time. These can be re-evaluated as you go along. Did you run the route of your half marathon? I feel that's a great way to visualize... even driving it to get some idea of what it looks like. And as far as missing a few weeks of running, be mindfull of your injury - you don't want to come out of this worse than going in... Ego is easier to get over than a serious injury! For one HM I had the flu for a month - bad... I ran anyway, did great, but had got an injury and it still bothers me sometimes now - especially when not stretching very well. SO BE CAREFUL and GOOD LUCK!!!

Oh, and HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE the few days before and throughout your run!!

Good luck!! I've run 2 halfs - The Hypothermic in February! The first I never "trained" for - I had just started running longer distances and a gal at work said she had a friend who couldn't race, would I like the bib? My longest run at that time was 18 km and, like you, was worried about the last 3...but it's true what they say, if you can run 18, you can certainly finish the last 3!! I see here that no one trains with 10 and 1s...run 10 minutes walk 1 minute. It's a great way to stay motivated for long runs, gives your legs a bit of a breather and just mentally, especially if it gets tough, you know that in a few minutes you're going to take a 1 minute walk!! As others have said, my advice would be find find the pace you're comfortable with and stick with it. I found it always helped to have someone in my sights just ahead of me who is running about the same pace and always keep them the same distance...gives you something else to focus on! Be mindful of your injury...your body will overcompensate to protect it and you may start to feel pain or discomfort in other areas of your body! Having said all that...truly enjoy the experience!!