If you would of asked me 6 months ago if i would ever become a runner my reply would be something similar to "Only if I was being chased by something out to kill me".
My journey to running started out as this: my dog needed out of the house, I needed to lose some weight, I hated to run and ....well....that is pretty much it. Running is not easy, yes I know, I thought the same things how hard can running be? Didn't God make us with the ability to run, don't kids run naturally? Well come to think of it as much as we are born with this God given talent, if not used it goes away!
First PART was easy I bought some new running shoes, loaded some new songs on my really cheap ipod, then set a day to start. The first DAY started out easy I got dressed, put the leash on my dog and headed out to the destination I planned on running, how hard can it be right? Wrong! Got to the road where I planned on conquering this simple feat people call running and started running. My program my friend gave me for beginning runners said to run 3 minutes straight, YIKES! A minute and a half into it I thought I was going to suffocate, I was panting so hard I was totally out of breath! My poor goofy dog was looking at me like "Really is that all you got?" O.K. I knew this was not going to work I needed a new plan!
Once home I got on the internet logged onto most's favorite social networking site and cried for help on the SHMC (Smokin Hot Mama Club) page. Some nice ladies suggested for me to check out the "Couch To 5K" plan, so I did just that. The CT5K plan is a 9 week interval program to literally get one of the couch to running 5K (3.1 mile) or 30 minutes straight which everone comes first. This is a 3 day a week program or every other day, it is not good on your body to run everyday as a beginner, you need to allow your body to build up to the impact.
First day of CT5K was to start out with a 5 min. brisk warm up walk, 60 sec jog, 90 minute walk, do this for 20 minutes. O.K. doable right? Right! Just not as easy as it looks on paper. So I get my 5 minute warm up "brisk" walk out of the way and start jogging for the first 60 second jog, turns out not so bad, walk 90 seconds, then time to do my 2nd 60 second jog it is doable, but getting really hard. I am starting to feel like the Huge Marshmellow man on Ghost Busters and my feet hitting the pavement is like "boom, boom, boom" I feel really heavy, but what is one to expect once gaining almost 40 pounds. Needles to say I finished day one with my head held high and with pride.
There is a 'Couch to 5K' facebook page, as well as a link off of that page that leads to a forum of new runners that I frequently visited to keep up motivation and to motivate others. Needles to say after a set back of 3 weeks to recover from runners knee, I graduated the program! I even advanced from week 7 to week 9!
Today a few weeks after graduating the CT5K program I ran 3.1 miles in 37.36.99 minutes and 388 calories burned! Can I say I love to run now? Hmmmm.....only after my run is done! I love the challenge and the accomplishment! And now I belong to the "C25K Grads" facebook page!!!
Amazing that you worked up to that Lorna! I could never do it in my best days, and certainly not now. Rinning 30 minutes for 3 miles sounds impossible to me. I am so glad the Couch to 5K worked for you. I think it's wonderful that we are making progress. I have gone from walking 2.8 mph to 3.4 mph on the treadmill over the last 14 days. For me that's huge. I am going to make it a routine to walk in the mornings, when I have the quiet and energy and stretch it out to 30 mins a day permanently. Keep Up The Good Work(out)!!!!
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