#5

Time: 32:30 min.
Distance: 2.19 miles
Avg. Pace: 14:52/mi.

I am on to week two of Couch to 5K. Last week was run 60 second intervals and walk 90 second intervals. Today jumped it up to run 90 second intervals and walk 2 minutes. I am pleased with my times and pace.

I am more pleased about the fact that this is technically my first day of summer vacation, and I actually set my alarm for 6 a.m. and was up and out the door by 6:15! As much as I love staying up late and sleeping in, it makes me feel so unproductive and lazy. That's just not how I want to spend my summer.

Getting up early to run will hopefully keep me from falling into that oh so easy pattern of stay up til 1 a.m. and sleep til 9.

Last week I was running for a total of 9 minutes. This week's plan calls for 10 1/2 minutes of running. I felt more tired, but I love knowing I'm getting stronger. I always get anxious to do more and more at the early stages, but I'm forcing myself not to jump ahead and do too much. I had hip and foot pain when I started this last fall. I'd rather not go through that again.


These are the flowers out in front of my house. They are my agapanthus, and every year I wait for them to "pop!" And they are popping because it is warming up!


My 5-year-old is now my partner in counting the buds that are going to bloom. Each day I get a new report from him that there are 19 flowers about to pop! I love this purple flower!

#4

Time: 31 min.
Distance: 2.12 miles
Avg. Pace: 14:37/mi.

I was surprised that I again improved on my distance and pace. I was pretty tired after an all day field trip at the water park. Not that I did anything more taxing than sitting on a lawn chair, but being in the sun is draining.

It's also windy here tonight, so I felt like that was hampering my stride.

I'm certainly pleased to shave more seconds off my pace. Once again...yay! Even with being tired and sun-drained, it felt good to be out in the neighborhood running with my thoughts.

And now for a gross picture!


This is the blister I got on my first run on Sunday morning. Luckily it never popped, and I was able to let it heal without it causing me any pain. It was pretty funky to see, though!

#3

Time: 31 min.
Distance: 2.06 miles
Avg. Pace: 15:03/mi.

I love seeing immediate improvement! I shaved over a minute off my average pace time, and I ran over a tenth of a mile further in the same 31 minute time frame. Yay me!

#2

31 minutes on the elliptical. I like my elliptical, but it doesn't give distance in miles. It gives distance in pedaling. That doesn't help me in calculating how far I've traveled. So that sucks.

I'm debating whether or not I should make up some random distance to equate to my elliptical workouts. It always feels like cheating when I do that. I'll think about it.

Not the easiest workout because I was crying throughout most of it. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of my dad's death. Crying and exercising don't go together very well.

On a happy note, I bought new socks, and I like them. How's that for random?

#1

Time: 31:00 min.
Distance: 1.92 miles
Avg. pace: 16:10/mi.

I don't want to get all wordy. I went for a run this morning. It felt good. I wasn't as slow as I thought I'd be. I'm irritated with myself for quitting running for three months. I'm irritated I gained back all the weight I'd lost.

I don't want to ramble about new beginnings and fresh starts and found motivation. I just want to run and get myself back in shape. I'm hoping this morning was the start of that. But then, I guess that would be up to me to make it happen.


I don't like this photo, but maybe if I keep running, I'll get to the point where I do like photos of myself again. Wore this shirt for the first time. I got it for my birthday in FEBRUARY.


I went out for 31 minutes. I know it's a weird amount of time, but there are reasons for it. Reasons that are definitely not interesting to anyone but me. I do love my Garmin, however. I love knowing exactly how far I've gone, exactly what my pace is, and exactly how long I've been running. Today's run was a mix of 9 minutes of running and 22 minutes of walking. Considering the amount of time spent walking, I wasn't unhappy with my pace.


This is where the little dog was found when I got back at 7 a.m. What a life.

Back to Basics

I spent all day with a group of 8th graders at City Hall learning about local government. Field trips are great, but they wear me out. It doesn't matter how close or far we travel from school, I just get a bit nervous being out and about with other people's children.

It was a really neat day complete with a talk from the mayor, county supervisor, a CHP officer, council members and breakout sessions...one of which I had to teach! It wasn't a physically tiring day, but it drained me mentally. Luckily I teach at a GREAT school and my kids were super well behaved. They didn't give me any trouble.

By the time we got back to school at 4 p.m. and I'd picked up my eldest from after school care, I was ready to drop onto the couch and not move for several hours. However, I had to get the smallest child, think about dinner, and do the bedtime routine. The last thing I wanted to do was run.

But I did it!

It was on my mind all day, especially since my legs were terribly sore from yesterday's jog-a-thon. I want to get back into running, but I have to get over the mental hurdles that convince me I am too tired, too sore, too deserving of a break.

The kids went to bed after 8, and I made myself lace up the shoes. I am wearing my new running shirt for the first time that I got for my birthday IN FEBRUARY! I can't keep up with my old routines without falling off the treadmill in a heap, so I've decided to start over with the Couch to 5K program.

It'll be a good way to build my strength and endurance back up to where it was. The one difference is I am making myself run at a 6.0 mph pace. I am hoping if I begin at that pace and get used to the tempo, I can maintain that out on the road.

Windy post. Sorry. I'm just happy that I moved my body two days in a row, despite the fact that I was tired and just wanted to get in bed. Now I need to get my stinky body into the bathtub and head to bed.

Jog-a-Thon

Running Log: 1 mile

Today was the jog-a-thon for my school. I haven't run in several weeks, so I thought I'd get out there today and let this be my motivation back into the jogging world. I forgot to take my Garmin, so I don't know precisely how far I ran, but I'm going to log a mile since I was jogging around a high school track.


My 5-year-old son Evan ran two miles! He's fast! I let him get going and then jumped in with him for the last few laps. (It's not the greatest of photos. You can barely see him. I am still getting the hang of using my iPhone for taking photos and uploading them to Facebook.)

I need to run because I feel so much better about the world in general when I run. My attitude is happier, I like my body better, I have more patience, I sleep better, I don't ache as much, I eat better, and on and on.

Now that daylight savings is here, there is hope that I can run outside in the evenings.

Oh, and to add to the bad feelings I already have for slacking in the running department, I also fell off the no soda/no caffeine band wagon. Sigh. I don't even remember what excuse I gave myself for drinking a Pepsi. I'm sure it was a great reason at the time for "needing" that jolt of sugar, caffeine, and carbonation. Now I just feel sad.

However, let the happy endorphins commence.