A New Beginning

Pretty sure I've made this exact post before but here goes......
...35 lbs heavier than when I was my fastest
...my fastest was never that fast
...haven't run over 25 miles/week in 4+ years
...have only run 37 miles this entire YEAR
...haven't seen an 8:XX mile in at least a year
...Last run was at 11:43 pace
...Old
...Lazy

If I extrapolate these numbers forward I am going to be 250 lbs and completely sedentary before I'm 60, which isn't part of the plan, so it's time to get back to running. I've said this 20 times over the last 6 years, so to help I have signed up for a race.

Race #1 - 5K race (corporate work thing, so high embarrassment potential) in 8 weeks. Suckered into signing up. Gonna suck for sure. Was thinking I could drag my ass to a 25 min finish (~8 min miles) but looking at my current fitness, reviewing my progress when I first started running at age 40, and getting some input from some of the running message boards I think that is highly unlikely. Reset goal to running vs walking, and not puking in public.

Race #2 - Half marathon in October. This is really for my son (17 year old, fit, fast soccer player, natural athlete). He wants to do a marathon before college, so I'm helping him transfer his natural speed and soccer fitness (and youth) into a reasonable marathon time. I promised to run "with" him in the races. No way I am keeping up, so goal will be to finish before they pack up the beer tent.

Race #3 - Marathon in the spring. TBD.

Thinking about this it looks like 8 minute pace might be a target for me to strive for.....
1) Run an 8 minute mile. Seems easy, but I bet I couldn't do it right now
2) 25 minute 5K
3) 50 minute 10K
4) 1:45 Half Marathon
5) 3:30 Full Marathon

They all seem like achievable goals I can get behind, assuming I can shed some pounds (Tough to run carrying 35 lbs of anything), and not get injured. So let's see how this goes!

Edit: Just to clarify, I don't think those 8 minute pace goals are achievable in the next race (i.e the 5K in 8 weeks), just that they are achievable in this iteration of my running life