January 7th 2009

On January 7th, 2009 (3.5 years ago) I wrote on my blog that I had a goal to run a 5k by the fall. Did I do it? Of course not! Hahahahahahaha....
Sorry. I'm not sure why anyone thought I would ever do that. Running sucks.
Well, I'm currently in the process of "training" myself to run a 5k. 'Say WHAT?!?' you ask? Yes. I am. I'm just 3 weeks in, getting ready to start week 4. I'm doing it!! It's not as bad as I anticipated. It's terrible, don't get me wrong. It's just not killing me like I thought it would.
I'm using an iPhone application that coaches me through 30 minutes of walking and running. You start out super duper slow, like running 30 seconds, walking 1 1/2 minutes for 30 minutes. You gradually work your way up to running a 5k in 9 weeks. I'm getting ready to try 5 minutes of running on and off this week. Wish me luck.
I have never been a runner, even when I was in grade school and played basketball. I just never had any endurance. I'm at a place in my life where I'm not happy with myself as far as weight and general health, and I want to change that. It's become important to me to teach Gunner to make good choices when he eats and I want to encourage a healthy lifestyle. How can I do that when I'm not anywhere near healthy? I can't. This is my motivation. Well, not just that. I also want to feel good. Several weeks ago I started noticing how run down and sad I felt all day. I kept feeling like I couldn't get enough sleep even though I was sleeping 8 hours a night. I would wake up often, but I would still get plenty of sleep. That's not normal. I should have had enough energy to get through the day and I just couldn't do it without a nap. Even with a nap I still felt awful. Something had to change, and I am not one who is ok with taking medication to fix myself. I decided to start exercising, and for some reason I really was ready to try this running thing. It's working. I feel amazing nearly every day. I've got loads of energy and I don't tire out as quickly anymore. I've been having less headaches and I've also been sleeping so much better. My mood has changed as well. Have I lost weight? I have no idea, honestly. Probably not. But that's not my goal right now. Right now I'm trying to get into this habit of exercise on a regular basis. Everything else can wait. Dieting, running in the early morning, weighing myself, it can all wait because I am easily discouraged and those are things that could bring discouragement.
It feels really good to have a goal. Not only that, I am starting to really notice a difference on how long I can run. That's been awesome. It makes me realize that I really can do this if I just keep going.
On a lighter note, I have had some interesting moments during the last three weeks of this. The first day I did this, I was very nervous. I honestly didn't know if I had it in me. That was a learning experience because after that I figured out how to add a select group of songs from my iPod to the app for my run. That first day I was running short bursts while I was trying to skip through hundreds of songs. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is NOT a very motivating song to run to, let me tell you. So that was a nice distraction from my nervousness. On another day, I ended up getting out there pretty late so it was nearly dark when I started. I had to wear one of Daniel's LED head lamps while I ran around the neighborhood so I could see where I was going. I probably looked like an insane coal miner. Actually, I had to wear it twice in one week. This last run I got to do with my mom who has already done a couple 5k's. So I'm sure she was having a hard time running that slow. (I'll work on speed later) Anyway, it's been really interesting, and it's starting to get a little bit fun. I'm hoping I can keep up and not have to do any of these weeks over again, but it should take me at least another 6 weeks before I'm finished.
When I'm on the last day of this, I want my neighbors to bring out the lawn chairs and cheer me on!!!! Ha! That would be so hilarious. Maybe I can just get Daniel to do that.