Seafair Torchlight 8k
I ran my first 8k in 43:17 (I think, official time’s not posted yet).
How I did it: I started running in Februray (from being completely out of shape), and did my first 5k in April. Since then I've ran twice per week, and lately I've been doing one distance run and one speed run each week. I was prepared to do this 8k, but I wish it had been a flat course.
Resources: coolrunning.com's Couch-to-5k program.