It's a marathon, not a sprint.

As far as how this little endeavor started, I think Doolittle said it all.   She's really motivating me to get back into this whole running thing after taking a good two years off to ... finish up law school, move from Nashville to Atlanta, take and pass the Georgia bar, work several relevant and some not-so-relevant jobs over the past year and a half, and start as an associate with my law firm in a little less than two weeks.

So I'm kicking off 2011 and this little running project with ol' Hal Higdon's Novice Half-Marathon Training Program.   Hal never steered me wrong in my two previous halfs.  Why mess with a good thing?

The scene:  Monday, January 3.  3 miles.  Me.  Piedmont Park.  Sunny, blue skies.  Ipod in hand.  Running mix on shuffle.  The goal:  30 minutes, no stopping.  It seems like a small feat thinking back on my former running days, but the feat hasn't happened in a very long while.  So here goes...

And (thanks in large part to a very motivating and fortuitous shuffle), goal attained!   This shuffle was so good I had to write it down:

Bruce:  Lonesome Day

Florence + The Machine:  Dog Days Are Over 

Avett Brothers:  Slight Figure of Speech

Passion Pit:  Swimming in the Flood

Jay-Z:  Hard Knock Life

Bruce, again:  Mary's Place

Mates of State:  Now

Phoenix:  Fences

Passion Pit, once again:  To Kingdom Come

GirlTalk:  Let Me See You

And for the cooldown, Tom Petty:  Learning to Fly.  It doesn't get much better than that.  

As for now, I'm modifying the schedule a bit, running every other day and taking in-between days to cross-train by walking my little man Amos.  More to come about this sweet and lovable little beagle pup as time goes on.

Today, January 5:  3 miles.  Looking outside, I think it will be a gym day.