My First Week

I went to the gym to do W1D1 of the C25K program. "Oh this will be easy to run one minute here and there," I thought. Couldn't have been more wrong. I did the 5 minute warm up, then ran at 5mph for one minute. That was ok. The second minute I ran after walking, though, my calves started to burn and my breathing got pretty heavy. Then the 3rd interval put me over the edge. My feet were burning. My shins were burning. I thought I was going to die. So I walked the rest at a slower pace, trying not to die.

The second day I went back with some advice to run slower. I set it for 4mph on my one minute intervals. My shins and feet still were burning. I was still out of breath. But I made it for 4 minutes of running instead of 3. Better is better I suppose.

I need some advice on running form. I watched the ABCs of Running on youtube, but wasn't sure what to do with the information. I also need some actual running shoes. I believe mine are made more for walking. Plus, I just need to lose some more weight and build up endurance. I think there are changes I can make, though, so it doesn't feel so impossible. I'm just not sure what. Running has always felt like hell to me. With this program I think I can do it though.

Of note: I'm especially frustrated, though, because I just got back from a business trip on which I didn't run. So I've been not running for about a week now. I took all my clothes and shoes and was ready to go, but got food poisoning the first night I was there. Finally today I'm starting to feel back to normal.

My motivation has faded a little having had that bump in the road. So I thought starting this blog and updating it would help me keep my motivation up.

I signed up for a 5K walk on May 8th. I'm not ready to run yet, obviously. I signed up for another 5K walk in June. My goal is to do one a month to continue to find inspiration by watching the runners, then by fall hopefully I can be one of them too!

A Bit of History

Last week was my first week of becoming a runner. I have been changing how I live my life to be more healthy since January of 2009. There have been a series of changes I've made, but none have included much activity yet. I have lost a bit over 30 lbs through changing my diet since that time. I kept saying I'd add exercise to my plan, but I'll be honest -- I hate exercising.

Then someone suggested I set a goal in order to stay motivated. So I signed up for a 5K walk in April. This was the first actual event I've signed up for in my life, and I'm 31. (I haven't been much into exercise since I played volleyball and softball in high school... so it's been a while.) I sort of forgot that I had signed up for it, but once I remembered I thought, "Oh crap, I had better make sure I can walk that far before I start!" That actually got me to the gym.

I started off walking a mile. Then got up to 2 miles at about 3 mph which left me breathless and very sweaty. Then a week before the race, I walked the 5K on the treadmill at 3.2 mph on a slight incline. I was tired, but I made it. I knew I'd be able to do the walk.

The next weekend I walked the 5K. I was there with my dad and husband who walked it with me. I was SO PROUD of the tshirt I got and crossing the finish line. I even took photos. But it struck me that I felt a little jealous of the runners. They got cool numbers to pin to their shirts. They finished it faster. And they were actually competing. Not only that, but a friend of mine was amongst them, and she had never been a runner before. How did she become one? The Couch to 5K program. That was enough to get me interested.

So, the week after that 5K walk, I decided to start the program. Here I am.