Hi! My name is Kim, and I'm a 31 year old wife, SAHM to 3 VERY active boys! I recently lost all my baby weight and am at my weight goal of 135 pounds (I am 5'3"). I have been running off/on for a while, but never have committed to a race like a 5K. I am very interested in running in one soon. I've been looking over all the running events in Houston where I live, and the soonest looks like September. Currently I am able to run for 30 mins, with only about 4 mins of walking. My goal is to continue to build that up and be able to run for 45 mins without walking. 

Wow, I feel like the old veteran in here.  I'm Drew, 28, San Diego, didn't start running until the age of 25.  I was hooked and now I have run 2 marathons, 2 half marathons, with the satellite Marine Corps Marathon at Al Asad, Iraq coming up and the Silver Strand half to welcome me home in November. 

I started to run simply because the drill instructors told me to.  I started to realize that it was the one thing, physically, I could do to keep up with the younger kids, and now I'm plowing through 40 miles per week.  I have ridiculous lung capacity, not bad for a guy who was 3 years ago lodged behind a desk 55 hours a week weighing 260 lbs and wheezing up a flight of stairs- the main reason I left Corporate America (I blame it for making me fat).  Back in college, I started trying to run, but alcohol got in the way.

To all the newbies, keep going.  It will get easier and you will improve.  Before you know it, you'll be in the best shape of your life and running ridiculous mileages in one day.

Keep on keepin on. 

Wow, congrats on the weight loss!!!  And the running

I am seriously contemplating doing this one as well.  I have a friend that was telling me about it today.  I ran 8 miles on Sunday and she told me that if I can do that than I can def do a 1/2 mary in November.  Do you live down there or are you traveling?

My name is Kelly and I live in Virginia.  I'm in high school now and I've been playing soccer since I was 5 years old, and this past fall I got really serious about being healthy, so I began running.  I was on and off of it for a while, but now I'm really serious about it.  I've been athletic my whole life, but running seems like it has its own level of athleticism that soccer doesn't have, although it is still my favorite sport.

Hi Valerie,

The midge is a curse on many Scottish holidays.  It's basically like a mosquito but smaller, angrier and way more persistant.  They hang around in clouds near water or anywhere marshy and bite lots.  I was on a camping holiday on the Isle of Skye and they were so bad, they were coming in through the air vents in the car.

Like I said, they're pretty much fangs with wings.

OK I'll introduce myself.  I'm Gratgirl, I'm new to this forum, from Australia. I am travelling to the USA in September and October and I really want to make sure I keep on running while I am travelling.  I'll be in San Francisco, then Austin Texas, then New York and then New Orleans for 5 weeks all up.

I really want to make sure I get a run at least every couple of days, some hotels will have a treadmill option, but i'm not going to the other side of the world to run on treadmills.  Oh and did I say I'm not an especially great runner, I haven't gone further than 10km yet, and i do that slowly.  But I love to run for all sorts of reasons.

And I keep on having to remind myself to becareful crossing the roads because thecars drive on the other side of the road!

So if anyone has any tips, recommendations or other advice I'd really appreciate it.   Looking forward  to seeing some of you and waving!.

Grat