C25K

I've taken a lot of time off from taking care of myself. I'm ready to make it a priority again so I've started the couch to 5k app...again. It's a great program and it got me ready before so I'm on week 6 now. It was a 5 minute warm up walk, 10 minute run, 3 minute walk, another 10 minute run then 5 minute cool down walk. My second 10 minute run I had to walk a little bit because I got a cramp. Hate that. Feels good to be moving again. Couldn't have asked for better weather either. 72 in December is ok by me! 

Will Not Quit

Over the past couple years I've pretty much labeled myself a quitter. I'm not looking for a pitty party here, I'm just saying I've given up on some things because of other things being more important. For example, I enrolled in school (AGAIN), went 2 semesters and decided it was too much. I'll admit, I beat myself up, and still do a little about giving up (AGAIN). I had to make a decision though, weigh the pros and cons. I decided that spending my weekends with my face in a book and computer were not as important as being with my kids, going to football games and just having fun. Maybe I put "FUN" too high on my priority list but I'm doing this life thing one time and doing it fun with lots of laughter is how I want to go out. I want my kids to remember growing up with a mommy that puts fun right there at the top of our list as eating and sleeping. So, back to my school dilemma, I am officially a college drop out AGAIN. It can wait, my kids can't.

Last year in May I ran my first 5K. I had commited to training for this race and by race I mean I just wanted to finish without walking. I wasn't trying to beat any of the other runners. I did the Couch to 5K running plan that I downloaded onto my iPod. I have a neighbor that would occasionally run with me and I remember one day when we had to do a longer run (25 minutes I think). I wanted to stop so bad. She kept encouraging me. It's not much longer...it's not much longer. I wanted to push her in the ditch but she was pushing her baby in a stroller and didn't want to hurt the baby. (I'm kidding, Katie!) When race day came I was so thankful for that encouragement. When I crossed the finish line it was an emotional moment for me. I had committed and kicked that trail's butt!

This brings me to right now. I got lazy over the past year, didn't work out and about a month ago I made the commitment again. Let me just break this thing down real quick. It's 3 days a week for 8 weeks. On week 9 you graduate to running the entire 5K. Each week is a different amount of jogging with walking in between. It gradually builds up to running the entire time. Last night I completely week 4, day 1. It was a 5 minute warm up walk, Jog for 3 minutes, Walk for 90 seconds, Jog for 5 minutes, Walk for 2.5 minutes, Jog for 3 minutes, Walk for 90 seconds, Jog for 5 minutes, then a 5 minutes cool down walk. It was drizzling rain and I was dodging frogs in the road but other than that I survived. I'm not going to lie, it was tough but momma's got this!

Dodging frogs in the drizzling rain. A few almost got slaughtered by some pink Brooks!

The sun finally came out last week after almost a month of raining plus I got new shoes for my old lady feet! It was a good day!

What-Iffer

I'm not sure what motivated me to post my GOALS the other day as I'm usually much more of a What-Iffer. Like if I'm thinking about doing something I don't post it all of Facebook and text everybody in my contacts with the news because WHAT IF it doesn't work out?! What if I don't continue on to get that degree that I never finished 15 years ago? What if I the Slow Poke Squad has to pick me up because I'm not moving fast enough? I mean they only give you 5 hours to finish 13.1 miles!  So now everybody that I advertised my goal to knows that I may or may not finish in the allotted time. Geez! It's easier to be a quitter to just myself. It's not as easy to be a quitter to other people. You catch my drift?

So, since I was temporarily insane and am now being held accountible my more people than just me I'd like to say that I really hate running.  I don't consider myself a runner but there is something about the accomplishment of a race that is super thrilling to me. So for the thrill of it, here I go.