The Allure of 13.1

Half marathons are the new black. They are super popular. And I know why, they are fun. It's challenging enough for one to feel proud of oneself, BUT, it's not a marathon which takes a lot of time to train.
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I've run 5 half marathons, 1 trail half marathon and 4 Rock'n'Rolls - 



My running story is this - 
In 2007, I had reached a point where I was completely unhappy with my body/myself. I had been trying to work out for several years but never really knew what to do or how to do it. I started doing Crossfit in late 2007 and did that for a couple of years. Then I met a runner. 
I officially started running in November of 2009. I ran my first half marathon in February of 2010. I ran my second half marathon in April of 2010. Then I ran 3 half marathons in 2011. I fell in love with the distance, but  
1) got burnt out on training and 2) improved my times a little bit but never really got very fast
I was running in this group with people that had run multiple half and full marathons, so naturally, that's what I wanted to do as well. But I never really built a strong foundation of running 5ks and 10ks. So now that I've decided I'm not running a half marathon this year, I want to use this time to build a very strong base/foundation and build up some speed. I'm not a natural runner. I'm slow and I have to work hard to get to a speed that most people started out with. 
So my goal for 2011 is to speed up. I'd like to get a solid 5k time of under 28 minutes and be able to keep it there. I'd like my 10k time to be in the 50 minute time frame. Once I can do that consistently, then I will look at longer distances again. Those times aren't super amazing or anything, but I think if I can be fairly solid in those times, THEN, my half marathons will be more enjoyable. 
Since I ran a 5k in 33 minutes on saturday - yes I know, not my best, I have a long way to go :)