Team Awesome Employs Mario and Luigi

Week One of Couch to 5k is over! Stretching and going easy on the speed were the keys to my success.  After the first day, I was really worried about hurting myself again! I hadn't stretched properly afterward. BAD IDEA, GUYS. I made it, though, and the 5k I have planned in July will not defeat me!

I am ecstatic about running. I need rest, otherwise I would do it more than three times a week!  It is incredibly physically taxing but the benefits have been enormous. I think the biggest perk is that it sets a positive tone for my day.  That tone is usually "I'm really hot and tired. Leave me alone while I stretch" until about 20 minutes after my run.  Then, I'm annoyingly positive, confident, and resilient for the rest of the day.  It's hard not to get addicted to that feeling. 

Mr. Husband doesn't understand
that we're not competing.

As much as I rave here, Mr. Husband hears twice as much and I've created a bit of a rabble in our household for 5ks. He won't be joining me for the Blood Bank 5k in July or the AIDS Walk/Run in September, but he will train with me and he found the Light the Night Against Crime 5k in October!  I'm not going to lie, I get all googly eyed when I think about the two of us running together.  I love that I'll get to share how it feels to be on Team Awesome! Also, we're planning on dressing up as Mario (Me!) and Luigi (He!).  Mainly, because I'm short and he's not but we also need to make sure that our nerd-heroes are represented.  Anyone else who runs with me MAY be required to dress as Princess Peach. I'm currently googling fake mustaches and crowns that don't fall off when you run.

I want to run a half marathon.  That's one of my big "Before 30" goals.  The America's Finest City Half Marathon and 5k is in August but I'm concerned that I would need more training than I can get in 3 months in order to meet the less than 3 hour requirement.  The good news is that I won't be 30 in August of next year. So,  I have all year to train for my 2012 Half Marathon! Oh, and train I will. This fire for running is just BURNING through me.

I'll be working on a calendar to show what races I'll participate in.  I want to look back on this a year and a half from now when I've completed at least three 5ks and a half marathon and have plans for more.  Man, future Teyie is gonna be the shit.

15 Pounds Down, A Lot More Eggs To Go

Fifteen pounds down!! I have quite a bit to go, but even 15 pounds is a big deal and should be celebrated! I'm so excited and proud! I've lost more than 5% of myself in just a little over a month! 

In the spirit of positivity and visual metaphors here are a list of things that weigh 15 pounds:

About 11 dozen eggs

The "Beer Barrel Belly Buster" from Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in PA

About 3 2-liters of Pepsi

About 20 Romance Novels

This 90 pound lady (on the moon).

Take the time to be proud of your successes! Celebrating your achievements helps to fuel yourself to make more good decisions that lead to more success.  Recognizing that you have met a challenge head on and conquered it also helps to properly build your self-worth (which is just as important as the weight loss because it helps you keep the weight off)!  

Creeping in My Own Neighborhood

I'm happy to report that running has not killed me! Day Two, Week One of Couch to 5k is behind me!  Mr. Husband destroyed himself last time, so I put him on "not running today rest."  Undeterred by my soreness and hatred for doing anything alone, I ran around my neighborhood like I owned the streets!

My new app, Every Trail is super-rad.  I tell it when to go and shove it in my pocket.  Then, I run around like a gazelle and hit stop when I'm done.   The result is what you see below: an accurate representation of where I went and how fast I got there!

33 Minutes 21 Seconds / 2.1 miles / Average Speed: 3.8 mph

I only need to get one more mile in before I'm practicing exactly 5k!  I came home a hot, sweaty mess concerned that I'd never be running more than a couple blocks! Finding that I've been doing way more than I thought I could was so encouraging.  

Ma'am, I'm from the creeper union.

As for the run itself, it was really nice!  The little neighborhood behind mine was just as cute as before. The jacaranda was blooming and inspired me to prance down that way more than once so I could get a picture. I hope the neighbors don't think I'm weird for sweating my way up and down the street and taking random pictures of their yards.   I'M NORMAL AND NOT WEIRD AT ALL.

Tomorrow, we're going to the gym for strength training.  I have missed working my upper body out!  It deserves some of the punishment I've bestowed upon my poor little legs.

Romancing the (soon-to-be) Toned

I'm officially a Couch to 5ker (assuming membership requires that you have completed Day One, Week One)!  Overall, it was easier than I had imagined. The one minute jogging intervals actually seemed short! Well, at the beginning they seemed short.  At the end, I wanted my podcast host to die in a fire.

I think my favorite part of the run was the location! It was right around our block, so no travelling was required and I got to see the nice side of our neighborhood.  We live on a busy street, so we tend to see the traffic, vagrants, and unfortunate looking people who are allowed to wander about seemingly without aim.  The opposite side of our block is so cute! They have perfect little houses with manicured lawns and smiling little puppies with bright pink tongues. We did 3-ish laps around and I didn't get tired of seeing the adorable houses.

My hamstrings and inner thighs think I'm an idiot for trying to run at all.  After we'd made it home they were very vocal about their distrust of running.  I'm hoping the cool down, stretching, and rest tomorrow will calm them down by Wednesday! I've really got a taste for running again.  Fitness is romancing me and I'm loving being wooed.

My heart still aches from my loss. Work is a good distraction and so are good friends.   It's the hardest when I'm left alone with my feelings and thoughts.  I never thought I'd think "Man, I wish I could just go out and run this off" but I've been feeling like running (away?) all day.