Do or Die

This is my do or die month.  Either I get serious and start making some real progress toward adding distance to my outdoor workouts, or I will  have to give up.  Last week I managed to drag myself through three hilly miles in my neighborhood, but I gasped every step of the way.  Tomorrow I'm going to try again.  I hope I can do it.  Three miles would be bad enough as a starting point.  If it's less than that, I am going to be really depressed.

In order to be in shape for the marathon next October, I need to be able to run four miles by the end of January at a minimum (preferably five!), and then add nearly three miles each month after that.  This sounds impossible to me.  I've never been the type of person who can just tack on a few extra miles on a whim, and I've become weaker with age. I don't have any reserve strength.  How am I going to run an extra mile each week?