No. Seriously. Ask my sister, my parents, my husband, my old volleyball coaches - up until this year, I was not a runner. When I played volleyball in high school, we would have to run almost two miles during the first week of practice. I was always the last one back. Always. I hated running, and I always let it be known that I hated running. I hated moving my legs, I hated being out of breath afterwards, I hated the idea of it. Running was evil to me.
But as I've gotten older - and started trying to come up with ways to get my exercise in without sacrificing time with JJ - I realized that running could be good for me. It'd be a good way to get some cardio in, I could do it at random times throughout the day, and it wouldn't necessarily require me to hit the gym. I could just hit the pavement.
So this year, I decided to get serious about running. I'm running the OKC Memorial 5K at the end of April, Color Me Rad less than two weeks later, and I'm considering doing the Remember the Ten 5K the weekend before the OKC Memorial run. I paid for the first two races already, so I NEED to run them. I'm not one to throw money away just because. So after the holidays, I started Couch to 5K during my lunch time. I thought it would be a struggle, but honestly, it isn't.
I'm on Week 3 now and have been running for a little more than a month. While it hasn't exactly been consistent, thanks to sickness and weekends with no babysitter, I've been running just about 3 times a week. I repeated Week 2 of C25K because it kicked my ass, but I'm now on Week 3 [jog 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes], and I'm actually holding my own. I feel like I might actually be able to do this now, run a 5K. That's something I never thought would happen. Ever. I even bought new running shoes, which I absolutely love. They're awesome.
Now, people are complaining about how it's too cold to run outside. Psht. That's what warm weather running gear is for. Slap on a hat, slip on a pair of gloves, wear a light jacket and boom - you're good to go. I've run in below freezing temperatures and have had to take off the gloves and hat by the end of my run because I was getting too warm. I just bought some warm weather running gear last week that I'll use until it starts to stay consistently above 65 degrees, and I'm excited to wear it.
Man. Who is this person, this person that actually enjoys trying to run?!
Seeing the progress that I've made with running over the last month is giving me the motivation to keep going. I never, EVER thought I would be able to run three minutes at a time, and I'm doing it now - without stopping or struggling to recover afterwards. I've noticed that I want to run faster now...at the beginning, I was doing this slow jog/fast walk thing. Now, I'm actually jogging and feel myself wanting to push harder and run faster. It's incredible, how a solid training set can make you better. If I had just hit the pavement on my own and tried to run as long as I could without stopping, I can guarantee you I wouldn't be running still.
As a side note, I've noticed body changes as well. I've restarted the 14-day ab challenge [since the first 14 day set i did was an awesome success] and doing push-ups [the cheater, female kind - no way in hell i'm ready to do actual push-ups], and we'll see how it goes after the next two weeks are up. If I can lose another 7-8 pounds and get to the point to where I can run most of a 5K course without stopping, I might actually put myself in a bikini. Whoa. That would be huge.
But for now, I'm just focused on running. You best believe that when I cross the finish line at my first 5K, I will scream my joy from the rooftops. And probably cry. Because let's face it - I cry for everything.
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