Nike Women's Fitness 5K - June 2010

Nike Women's Fitness 5K - June 2010
Walked this course in 2009 - walked and partially ran the course in 2010.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Day Two Week Two - TWO TWO TWO!

I had alot of different thoughts go through my head as I prepared to run this morning.  First, my day started off with my 13 year old dog waking me up around 7 am - nothing unusual about that.  But then I thought, "Oh man, today is a running day...boy do I NOT feel like running today!"  Yea, who among us have not had that thought when learning to make ANY kind of exercise a part of our lives, right?  Well, it hit me big time this morning.  But, I persevered and got my running clothes on, and off I went (after walking the doggie, of course). 

So, the first 90 second run was okay, and I'm thinking..."Ok Wheeler, what was all the fuss about not wanting to go this morning"  But then came the first hill....."Oh man, I can feel that one...."  Yup, it didn't hurt my muscles, but it hurt everything else.  Then the third hill came, and this one is the worst of the whole run.  I thought..."Can I make this?  Or am I going to have to give up and quit half way through the 90 second section of this morning's run?"  Well, I made it -- it wasn't fast.  In fact, it was more like a walk-jog rather than a jog because of the steepness of the hill, but I pushed and huffed and puffed and made it to the top of the hill.  Yea for me!  By this time I'm thinking "Well, half way through....I've made it this far, the rest is a piece of cake..."  But then that fourth hill came.  Oh man!  But I kept going - yes, I did!  And finished all six of the 90 second intervals of running.

Now you are probably thinking, "Well Wheeler, isn't that what you are supposed to be doing?  I mean, you are learning to be a runner, right?  So if you make it to the end of your morning run, isn't that what is expected?"  No, you have to understand that I typically am a quitter when it comes to stuff like this -- heck, I am a quitter in general when the going gets tough.  But even though this is only week two, I kept going, and I finished the morning run!  I didn't feel like running today.  My mind and body were saying "no, no, no" but my will to succeed in this new venture of my life said "yes, yes, yes!" and the YES won!

I know each week will get harder with longer periods of running and less walking,  And quite frankly, it scares me to death to think of that.  Will I fail at this new goal in my life?  All I can say to myself is "Take it one day at a time - one week at a time - and don't worry about tomorrow, just focus on today's accomplishment."  Hopefully today's success will be tomorrow's victory.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Finished Week One!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!

So, as of yesterday (Friday) I finished the first week of C25K and am extremely proud of myself.  The second day wasn't too bad -- I even kept running more after the last 60 second run when I was supposed to be doing the cool down walk.  The third day was a bit harder - but I think it is because it was warmer outside and I ran in the middle of the day instead of early or late.

I need to take my measurements and some pictures this weekend before I start week two.  I have been looking at 5K races in November/December, knowing that I will have completed the whole program by then.  I figure if I already commit to one race around that time, it will keep me motivated as the running program continues to get more intense.

The hills were a bit easier each day I ran.  On Thursday, I rode my bike up part of the hills, something I couldn't do before.  That made me feel really good.  Running must be strengthening my legs already, do you think?  Or maybe I just happened to have more energy as a result of the running?  I don't know - either way, I'm glad it is working. 

Well....on to week two!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Day One - C25K

Monday was my first day running.  C25K is short for "Couch to 5K" and it is a wonderful program designed to help you learn, gradually, to run a full 5K course.  I found a podcast to download to my ipod that helps to guide you through the steps by alternating a 60 second run with a 90 second walk the first week and gradually increasing the running interval each week, all set to music.  We live in the mountains, and so it seemed that all the "running" periods ended up being on the hilly parts of our road, which added to the challenge of learning to do this.  But after running the program both Monday and today (Wednesday) I have found that so far my body seems to be handling this drastic change in exercise quite well with just a bit of joint pain in my inner thighs.

Blogging this journey, or blogging at all, is a new experience for me - I hope you can bear with me!  My daughter and husband are the writers in our family.  Blogging, for me, is a tedious and difficult process, maybe even more tedious and difficult than learning to run! 

I made the mistake of not journaling my weight loss surgery journey by creating a blog.  I wish I had now.  Since this is the newest "adventure" of my life, learning to be a runner, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to journal my joys, my triumphs, and my discouragements and set-backs.

So...thank you for your patience with me as I grow into both being a runner and a writer at the same time!