Team Write This Run: 6 Weeks

School summer holidays used to last forever. The six week break was long enough for a family trip, to make a billion friendship bracelets, to fall in love, learn the dance to the latest pop hit, get your heart broken, get grounded for a week, have countless sleepovers and still have time to claim boredom. The break was so long that you'd eventually yearn to go back to school for the new term.

So with that same amount of time left until I face my first half marathon, there's seemingly plenty of time to build up speed and endurance. But with injury dictating my runs, so far I've had to ditch the training plan and accept the few miles my shins would let me complete - I've so far not even run half the distance. They are easing up, though, and I can now start to build up my runs. So that great chunk of time will be spent trying to remember how to run and gain some stamina to get me through 13.1 miles.

One thing's for sure, my naive goal of sub 1:54 (chosen simply to beat my sister's time) is truly out the window, down the road and on a ferry! My only aim now is to cross that finish line. Even if it takes me an extra hour, which is possible - after all, this will be the furthest I've ever travelled without the assistance of machinery and I've barely trained! 

I hate feeling underprepared. When I signed up for Reading Half Marathon, there was no question I could do it, only how fast. Now though, I have no idea if my healing legs can carry me that far or if my lungs still have the capacity to keep me running for that long.

So I must keep the optimism of my school days, when six weeks was an eternity and anything was possible, in the hope that it is possible to prepare for your first half marathon in six weeks!