My first half was over 10 years ago, so I can't say that I can answer the question exactly, but I remember thinking along the lines of "If other people can do it, I can too". The task did seem pretty daunting at the time, but you are correct, the sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort. And it's amazing how fast you are able to progress and what you are able to accomplish if you are determined.

As you know, I also have Crohn's disease. I won't lie, it does put an additional strain on training. It is important to be well tuned into your body. I have had to drop out of several marathon training programs because of the old Crohn's, and it' can get extremely discouraging. But I did finally complete my first full 2 years ago, and knowing I had that additional "hurdle" to overcome made it all the more sweet. I am about to start training again for number 2 after having a major set back earlier this year. Of course I am worried that the Crohn's will come back once again to keep me from achieving my goal, but I know that I won't do it if I don't try. This is the way I see it: I may fall down again (and again), but if I quit trying, then the disease has truly gotten the best of me and I am not willing to let that happen. I know you can do this too!!

For me my general train of thought was:
- 'I should start running'
- 'This is starting to hurt less and less each time'
- 'Wow I just ran 5k!'
- (after tracking my runs) 'Holy **** my pace is getting better week by week'
- 'Wow I just ran 10k!'
- 'That half marathon looks awesome, oh what the hell I can run 21k in 2 months'

And so I did. That sort of occurred over the space of 3-4 months. Now it's 2.5 years later and I've run 3 halfs so far. Truth is I just pushed myself and just waited to see where it would take me. My aunt is a serious athlete and did an Iron Man a couple of years back and she probably was the root of my inspiration to see how far I could run. I'm now training for my first marathon in October so I'm still looking for my limits

I sympathise with you cause it sounds like it's really tough to run with Crohn's. I can't give better advice than the two above me because truthfully I haven't experienced anything that has seriously hampered my training. What I will say is I'm very impressed, it's awesome to see people pushing through difficulties like that, it inspires me even more!
So I would say take inspiration from other people in similar situations to your own, if they can do it, you can too, and maybe down the line you yourself can serve as an inspiration to others

I was totally happy with 5k and 10k runs and mud runs as that was a pretty good balance with my weight lifting. Plus, doing a run twice as long just didn't sound like something I'd want to do. At the end of my 10k runs, I felt pretty much like "yep, that's enough running for now"

Then someone inspired me to sign up for a Spartan Beast (12+ miles) and if I'm going to train to run that distance, I might as well do a half marathon. And I discovered I kind of like doing these longer runs once I learned to embrace not always going balls out during my runs and actually doing a proper training pace.

edit: The one who inspired me has minimal Cerebral Palsy and is going for a Spartan Trifecta and half marathon this year.

I got into running in 2012.
Signed up for the Army Ten Miler that year.
A coworker was like "hey half marathon!?" And yeah, that's how that happened.

My second is in Oct. Had to take off a lot of 2013 due to injuries. I like running.

I said I'd never run another half. I lied.
So I might end up with a full under my belt at some point (not soon tho)

My father in law, in his hey day the man ran 3 comrade marathons (90km) and at least a dozen full marathons. So when I started running, I thought that I should at least give a marathon a go, so off I went, completed 1 full marathon, 2 timed a 1/2 marathons and a number of 21km + training runs. Gave myself Achilles Tendonitis so I have eased up on the running and ride more.

Ran a couple of 5Ks. Then I started training for a 10K, and found that I could run 7.5-8 miles without feeling utterly destroyed.

Personally, it did take a lot for me ramp up to 13 miles, but what made me sign up for my first half marathon was the day I finally, very slowly, ran my first 13 mile long run. Once I knew I had it in me, I signed up for my race, and trained. I guess i just needed to do that distance once to see what it felt like and know that the distance itself was achievable before I shelled out the money and committed (unfortunately I do not have a large budget for entry fees, as most of my spare cash goes towards replacing my shoes, gear, etc).

I had just finished a beginner 5k program. I was running 5k in 40 minutes. I had done it probably 5 times. I was going to sign up for a 10k in 3 months and train like crazy for it. My sister told me she was going to do a half marathon instead of the 10k. I had literally 5 minutes to decide (the HM is crazy hard to get into). I said "why not?" And signed up and got on a 12 week program.

On paper it doesn't seem like it would have been a good idea since I had no idea if i could run more than 3 miles, but i did it anyway. Got my 5k time down under 30 minutes in the meantime too. And my HM went great! I've done 5 more since then and I'm currently training for my first marathon.

So i did it because of peer pressure!

Same for me!!! (Except for the sister part.. It was some online friends!). I was actually on the last week of C25K when I signed up lol

Honestly, that half is what made me LOVE running and gave me so much confidence on other parts of my life. The training was HARD, I felt like I was always running (I was soooo naive lol), I knew nothing about running, but I got it done and the race went great. It showed that if I really wanted something, I could get it.

Running that half is also what made me fell in love with distance running.

I ran the last 8 miles of a marathon on a relay team and just knew I had to do a half marathon. I loved it. Also, the girls I was running regularly with were doing the half that year and they really weren't any faster than me or in better shape than me and I suddenly realized half marathons were for everyone--you didn't have to be an elite athlete to finish one in a decent time

Good on you for pushing through despite the Crohn's. I don't have advice on that because I don't know what it's like. But I really love to see people pushing their limits a little, whatever those limits might be (time, physical ability, mental blocks...). Good luck and see where your training takes you!

I started with the odd 5k. No training for them, just did them (very, very slowly. More like walking). Then I did a couple obstacle runs and found I enjoyed them. The year before I got into it my husband had run the city 10 miler, and had a blast, so I signed up for it...and proceeded to not train for it like I should have. I was about to put my bib up for trade when the Boston bombing happened, and I went out and ran 7 miles that night. I finished the 10 miler talking a kid through mile 9 who was ready to give up. The race itself was 10 miles of cheering people even for us back of the pack runners. I was hooked. Signed up for my first half later that year, proceeded to run 2 that fall (with 2 training runs at that distance), and this year I've already run 2 more, with 2 more scheduled.

I was trying to set my goals for 2014. I had been running for about a year at the time, and was halfway through a 10k plan. I have no idea where the thought came from, but I said I want to do a half. It terrified me. I was still over 200 lbs at the time and had knee problems that exacerbate with running.

The training was hell. I started training in January for a March half. It was the coldest winter since I've been born. I did 11 miles with a high of -2F. It was miserable. I couldn't get past 11.5 in training, and thought there was no way I'd ever make 13.1. I was terrified of the 3 1/2 hour time limit on the course.

But I did it. That feeling of crossing the line was amazing. And I've been hooked ever since. I'm now looking at my first full early next year.

First of all, I want to totally commend you for getting into running with Crohn's. That's amazing and you should be really proud of yourself and what you've accomplished thus far.

I have Fibromylagia and can completely sympathize with the chronic fatigue. I'm on a medicine (Nuvigil) just to keep me awake and alert because my body is so "spasmatic" at night, I rarely sleep a full 6-8 hours. I get gut issues from a butrans patch my rheuma put me on to help with the pain. So far, not helping. I find that the running and yoga and zumba help me a lot more.

Three years ago when I started my diagnosis with a rheuma, I was told I was heavy and needed to lose weight. I had run a 5K the May before seeing him in something like 44 minutes. I thought that was pretty awesome. I hadn't really been training and knew if I wanted to run I needed to get more serious about it. I got fitted for good running shoes and started C25K while doing zumba religiously. I had dropped 40 lbs and had run another 5K. By December, I was feeling really good and signed up for the Broad Street 10 miler. Yep, jumped right over the 10K and went right to the 10-miler. Why not!? A challenge is healthy and that meant I would have to keep to some kind of training plan. In February, I started to get sick. REALLY sick and by March I was in the hospital. Turns out, when you eat healthy, organs like your gall bladder fail on you. I had to have emergency surgery and spent 3 weeks in the hospital. My surgeon said absolutely not to the 10-miler.. obviously, he didn't know me. Once I was cleared to run in early April, I got those shoes back on and tackled 2 miles. Painful. 3 miles. Really painful. Then it became easier to tolerate and by May 3rd, I was running that Broad Street. Not fast but finished in 1:57. I figured.. well hell.. 10 miles plus a 5K is a half marathon. I can do this! So I signed up for three -- Rock 'n Roll Philly, Runner's World and Wine and Dine, never realizing until the following year that I had qualified for Half Fanatics. I worked my way up and have run about 15 halfs and 4 fulls. Have a bunch more on the docket for fall. I also changed rheuma's as my first one told me I shouldn't run. He also misdiagnosed me so that was a total bummer.

Distance is really based on the person. Three years ago I didn't ever believe I could run a marathon. Because my mind was telling me no. I met a girl with a Marathon Maniacs headband on and thought "Who runs marathons for fun and brags about it!?" With my fibro, my abilities have decreased and I find it much harder to recover as fast as I did when I was running less mileage. I've switched from running straight through to doing the Galloway intervals. I find that my body recovers faster on the walk break and I'm not hurting myself in the long run. My times may be slower, but that's ok. I'm not Meb or Shalene and that's ok by me. I'm up, I'm off the couch, I'm a Half Fanatic and a Marathon Maniac and I'm proud of myself.

I do think that the Disney races do a good thing by promoting running, but also serve as an injustice to those who do not train for them properly. No matter the distance, you need to train. I can't tell you the number of "Princesses" in February who were getting sick, passing out, truthfully had no business (as they were not trained) being on the course. I overheard one girl in my corral who said "I only made it up to 6 miles and figured 'Hey, what's another 7. I can fake it on course.'" She wound up on the sag wagon and got her medal just for signing up. It's a shame. Those people never really get to experience the high of crossing the line and feeling that moment of "I did it!"

Keep at it and well done!!

Someone called me fat and told me I couldn't do it. That's what made me get pissed and said I'm proving you wrong! Then I did the Goofy and YES I did rub it in their face I did finish! Not the grown up thing to do but damn it felt good to prove them wrong!

Actually, my thought process went like this: "I should train for a race. What distance sounds really hard? Well, I've done a few 5ks (one of which is billed as "The 5k that feels like a 10k"), so a 10k seems pretty reasonable. I couldn't imagine running a half marathon. So I guess I'll train for one of those."

You don't have to think you can do it, you just have to do it (i.e., train for it).

2013 was a rough time for me for several months. I needed a distraction, a focus. I needed to prove to myself that I could do something just for me. Was running 5k's and a few 10k's throughout the year so I thought a half marathon was the answer, something do-able but would be a huge achievement. I simply wanted to end the year with a bang, and I did