WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – We are just two and a half months away from the Parkway Subaru Battleship NC Half Marathon.

Michelle Carbanaro, Andrea Cherry and Victoria Broughton started their training in July and are still going strong.

With help from the Without Limits Running Club and coach Tom Clifford, they have each been able to attend training sessions with the group and keep track of their progress.

“So we have harder weeks than others. And we have weeks that are more of, like, tone down recovery. So let’s say for the long run, you’re at four miles, four miles is the longest you went. In six or eight weeks, you do a 10-miler, well, then, by the time you come back to like four or five miles, that’s not long anymore, right,” said Clifford.

The runners are also encouraged to run on days they aren’t meeting with the group. Carbanaro likes to run Sugarloaf Trail at Carolina Beach State Park with her best friend.

“This is my long run day but it tapered down last week; it was eight now I’m at six, next week I’ll do 10 miles for my long day so coming right along, getting there everything’s going good,” said Carbanaro.

Cherry is excited about the cooler weather. While she’s had a tough time with the heat and humidity, she’s still made a point to get some extra runs in around her neighborhood. She’s also added in some strength training with Pilates and made some changes to her diet.

“I’ve been adding more protein to my diet, I noticed I wasn’t eating too much protein, enough protein, so I’m doing that I keep showing up for my trainings and doing my running so, keep going,” said Cherry.

Broughton also continues to make progress. She says it’s definitely been challenging, but also rewarding at the same time.

“There are definitely some days where I don’t really feel like coming. But I just kind of think about my goals and just trying to be as prepared as possible for the day of the half marathon because you know, if you skip a day here, skip a day there, that’s probably fine. But, you know, there’s like, a couple of weeks in a row where you don’t feel like going, you know, the day of it’s like, ‘Man, I wish I would have gone because now I don’t feel prepared’,” said Broughton.

With just over 10 weeks of training left, all three women are off and running toward the goal of 13.1 miles to cross the finish line.

The Parkway Subaru Battleship NC Half Marathon is November 17. We will continue to bring you updates on their progress every month as part of our Get Fit with 6 series.

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