Last year I ran my first-evar half marathon. I set it as a goal around New Years and spent the next 5 and a half months training for it. I took it very seriously. I went running roughly 4 times a week and played with the incline-setting on the treadmill to make it feel like I was running up and down hills (not that Winnipeg has hills, but I was afraid that the marathon course might suddenly develop hills and I refused to be beaten by any sort of hills, imaginary or otherwise).