The half-marathon plan: A post about running

I have always been an athletic person.  I started playing youth league softball before Kindergarten and didn't stop organized sports until graduation.  I did it all--softball, cheerleading, cross country, volleyball.  My junior year in high school, I would have cheer practice from 2:00-5:00 and then do my 3-to-5 mile cross country workout after that.  (Ironically, I was the biggest I have ever been at this point in my life.  I think I took carb-loading a little TOO seriously!)

After high school, I've remained pretty active.  Running, of course.  Church softball.  Wakeboarding.  Swimming.  Indoor Rock Climbing (on occasion).  Keeping up with two highly energetic children.  You get the point.  With summer almost over and fall quickly approaching, it's time for me to buckle down and start training for my half marathon.  

One thing on my 30 before 30 list is to run the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee (which is in April, 2014).  Truth be told, I wanted to run a half and I just picked that one because it sounded like fun.  I don't truly have my heart set on it being that EXACT half marathon, and I don't think I'll feel cheated if I don't run that one, but if I can, I want to.  (<--that has GOT to be the longest sentence ever!) I say all that because my life revolves around my girls, and with Kyndall playing sports, I will not miss a game just to run a 'specific' half marathon.  I do intend to run a half... maybe even more than one.  There are actually a few on the calendar that I am looking at--one in mid-September and one in late October.  

Up until now, my running has been very haphazard.  I am in the bad habit of not running if I don't have time to run at least 3 miles.  This means I'll run 4 or 5 times a week for 2 weeks, and then not run at all the next.  I'm going to have to get organized with my running.  I think running has become this super complicated sport recently with all the nutrition-musts and training plans.  Personally, I don't think it should be so hard.  It's just running--when you can run 3 miles, do a 5K.  Then build from there.  That being said, since I already have a pretty decent running base, I'm going to very loosely follow this plan:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	3	2	Rest	XT	3	4	Rest
2	3	4	Rest	XT	3	6	Rest
3	4	5	Rest	XT	4	8
4	4	5	Rest	XT	4	10	Rest
5	5	6	Rest	XT	5	12	Rest
6	4	Rest	2	1-2	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon!

Except, I'll probably swap Thursday/ Friday, so that I cross-train on Friday and run on Thursday.  It just works better for me that way.  Once I complete this plan, I'll probably have time do repeat it once before the race, depending on which one I decide to do.  I would love to remain in half-marathon condition at all times, in case one just popped-up that I wanted to run.  

Any half-marathon tips for me?  Or races that just HAVE to be ran?