Couch to 5K

I feel like I can officially write about this since I’m in week 2 of my 9 week training program.  Before now I have never been a runner.  I’ve always said “I don’t run.  I walk.”.   I can walk/hike for miles, in fact I *love* hiking!

 

But I don’t run.

Until now.

 

When I say I’m not a runner, or that I *can’t* run, my sweet husband tells me that it’s all in my head (he says it sweetly!).  That I have to push past the pain.  I thought he was loony.  I mean, you are supposed to *stop* when something hurts, right?  Unfortunately, that’s what I’ve always done. 

But then, this past December, we went to watch several friends run in a marathon.  A marathon!  That’s 26.2 miles, and they ran!  It was inspiring.  Even more inspiring were the people we saw running with prosthetic legs.  We saw 2 or 3 adults running with TWO prosthetic legs.  I mean, what better excuse do you have for NOT running?  Yet, there they were.  I have been blessed with 2 legs that work just fine, so why can’t I do this? 

 

Because I haven’t tried.

 

Plus, I just watched my husband train for 6 months to get back in shape to join the Army.  He is my hero!  He got up early, worked out multiple times a week – hard!  He lost weight, gained strength, and focused on his goal.  He didn’t want to get up early, or go running, especially with a 50 pound rucksack on his back.  But he did.  Because he’s that kind of guy.

 

So, now I’m trying.  I’m going to start….and finish this!  I desperately want to accomplish this.  I want to run a 5K (that’s about 3 miles) without stopping.  Just because I can.  I’d love to do a marathon someday, but right now that’s too lofty a goal for me to focus on.  We’re going to start with a 5K.  Then, we’ll shoot for a 10K.  Baby steps.

 

I completed week 1, which consisted of 3 days of training.  Each time, I ran 1 minute, then walked 1.5 minutes.  I continued that cycle for 20 minutes (plus a 5 minute warm up, and another 5 minute cool down).

Then I had a setback of a couple weeks with an awful chest congestion, so I started over, and did week 1 again. 

Now, I’m in week 2.  Yesterday I completed Week 2 – Day 1.  Run 1.5 minutes, and walk 2 minutes.   Although, I forgot to look at my training program before I left the house, so I only walked for 1.5 minutes.  Guess I did better than I was “supposed” to :)

 

The first week was miserable.  For one thing, I didn’t stretch enough before/after and I ended up with awful shin splints that made me wonder if I had already broken something. 

Then, one day I ran/walked, it was the day after our area had record breaking snow!  It had started to melt, and I found myself running in crazy zig-zags to avoid the puddles.  My shoes have mesh on them, and every time I would step in a puddle, cold, wet water would seep in.   Burr! 

 

This week, I spent more time stretching, and it made all the difference in the world!  Yesterday when I ran, it was so cold out, that I kept changing my route so that I could stay in the sun.  It doesn’t really matter where I run, because right now I’m running for time, not distance, so I don’t measure out a certain path.  I just go.

It felt GREAT!  This week was easier than last week.  It was still hard, but it was easier than last week.  I hope that cycle continues because I really WANT to enjoy this.  Not just do it, but enjoy it.