Aiming to get serious... am I aiming too high?

[tamz]

Hi there!
I'm a 25 year old female who has been dabbling in running on and off for about 4 years now. Last year I ran my first 12km race, pretty slowly with minimal preperation. This year I plan on getting serious and training hard, gradually building up with the hope to eventually do a 16 week program and run a half marathon in June/July this year (6 months). At the moment I am building back up as I've had a couple of months off and struggling even to do a 5km. Do you think I'm aiming to high or with 6 months of dedication that I can do it?
Thanks!
Tamz

[tiger boy]

It can be done, but 21.1km is a big jump up from 12km, and you will need to be mentally prepared as well as physically.
You need to feel that once it starts to get hard that you can dig deep within yourself and finish. If you're finding 5km hard at the moment, that is a concern, but not insurmountable.
Do you run alone? Many people find running with a friend, or better still, a group of friends helps. Maybe find a local running group or club to help with motivation.
(Many a time I've organised to meet a mate or mates for a run, and you wake up, it's pouring rain and blowing a gale and you think "damn, xx is waiting for me, I'd better go" and when you get there you find they were thinking the same thing and then you figure, well we're here now, might as well get it over with and off you go).
If you let us know (roughly) what area you are in, someone here may know of an existing group in your area.

[tamz]

Thanks so much for your advice. I'm generally pretty determined so I think if I put my mind to it it can be done. Usually it doesn't take me long to build my fitness back up so fingers crossed its the same this time. I'm in the adelaide hills? I'm also trying to find some good running tracks around the area for my Sunday runs if anyone knows of any in my area? Thanks!