I think I found my 5k…

But just writing the title is freaking me out.

I need to figure out why I’m so scared to register.

No let me rephrase that, I need to figure out why I’m so afraid to fail.

I’ve only looked at the web page for the run and already I’m ready to be in tears.

— Even just now I had to get up from the computer and walk around my office just because I was getting all angst. —

I need to relax.

Here are the reasons I picked this particular 5k:

June 12 is just a little under 3 months away. I will finish the c25k by the end of this month. I will be at the 30 minute mark and thus giving myself 2 1/2 months to improve improve improve.
It’s very close to my home. Once I reach the 30 minute mark I can use the 5k path as a bench mark to see how I’m progressing. This will also give me plenty of time to get used to the course so that I will know full in advance what to expect.
It’s in one of my all time favorite places in Tacoma. A big park…hello!
There is a planned Diaper Dash (20 yards for little ones 3 and under)…okay who couldn’t resist seeing little baby legs dashing around in diapers?
2 months from now will give me a lot of time to really focus on building stamina and continue to lose weight. If I continue on this track I should be down at least another 15 pounds before the race…pretty damn close to 220. By registering now this will give me 3 months of something to look forward too, and keep my determination up (thanks SRG).
It’s a big race so the likelihood that there will be other noob runners is pretty high.
There is also a 12k race so all the big boys/girls will be over there and not over here where I am (crossing fingers).

I need to do something that scares me today and this is definitely something that frightens the bejeebees out of me.

I am afraid of failing. By not signing up I ensure myself that I can never face that fear. I want to do it. I want to give myself the opportunity to experience whatever is supposed to happen. I want to work towards something and know I don’t have to be the best out of everyone.

Long story short – my mother did a very bad thing as a parental figure. Now before I continue let me also state that I’m sure she did the best she could with the tools that were provided to her (not many that’s for sure). She died many years ago so I can’t go back and ask why she said the things she said. I just have to trust that she thought she was making good choices/decisions when raising me and my 3 older brothers. As a child she would berate me to never become like my brothers. In her eyes they all failed her…

The truth is she failed us.

And in that failure she convinced me that if I wasn’t the best at absolutely everything, I was destined to become what she couldn’t handle: Another horrible child.

I never did what I wanted as a child. I wanted to play sports, I wanted to sing in choir, I wanted to join the swim team, I wanted to join theater. So many things I wanted to do but never ventured out because I was afraid to fail.

I have carried around that fear with me like a backpack full of rocks. Every time I want to try something, I mentally put a boulder in that backpack making it too heavy to carry.

Today, I’m going to take out a boulder…

I DID IT!

I have officially entered my first 5k!

I need a nap now.

(in case you’re wondering – it took me 3 hours to write this post)

Am I running too slow?

What an interesting question to ponder.

Am I running too slow?

Today I diverged from my usual running spots (water front and the park) and ran on of the routes I normally walk my dogs. This way I could map it on gmap-pedometer and get a rough estimate on my speed. Last Friday I ran the track during my first 25 minute trial and it put me at about 1.5 miles but there was so much wind and rain that I didn’t really trust that to be accurate. So today I took it too the streets.

After calculations from gmap, it says I ran 1.75 miles in 25 minutes. That equates to 4.2 mph. That puts me at about a 15 minute mile. Is that slow? Or is that pretty normal for someone who has never run before in their adult life. I know over time (with practice) it will get faster but today I just feel like it’s too damn slow.

I felt a little frustrated and a little over exposed because I ran on a main street and with today being Monday, it was pretty dang busy. It also didn’t help that my normal podcast (Robert Ullrey) seems to be on the fritz at the iTunes store and I had to improvise with a new podcast. I found some other “podcasts” that I liked on personal weblogs but am too technologically inept that I couldn’t figure out how to move them from my pc to my ipod…

So my choices from the iTunes store was some mash up of techno or Indie Christian. I chose to go with the techno as I believe Indie Christian is both an oxy-moron and just not something I can get into. So Techno it was and it did the job just fine but I missed Robert’s voice for sure.

As an extra added bonus I took my dogs on the same route I ran, I pulled out my new jump rope (black and red just like when I was a kid) and did 100 jumps (25 reps x 4), worked on the Wii for 50 minutes for a total of about 700 calories burned.

Now to just figure out how to eat those back!

Weigh in #11…A new catergory!

I have posts set up by certain catergories…one of which is weight. The first catergory was set for all the posts during my 249 – 240 weight loss. I’m happy to report that as of today I’m officially putting the next set up posts into the 239 – 230 weight loss portion of this journey!

I’ve left the 240’s!

This is just about the best news of the day for me. It was a little lower yesterday but again Friday’s are not my weigh in days and I have to learn to commit to what it says in the moment and not what is said in the past…how’s that for therapy!

So here are the numbers since December 29th, 2010:

Week 0 = 263.5 (-0.0)
Week 1 = 257.4 (-6.1)
Week 2 = 255.0 (-2.4)
Week 3 = 254.6 (-.4)
Week 4 = 253.8 (-.8) *I started c25k
Week 5 = 248.2 (-5.6)
Week 6 = 247.2 (-1.0)
Week 7 = 246.2 (-1.0)
Week 8 = 244.4 (-1.8)
Week 9 = 241.0 (-3.4)
Week 10 = 240.6 (-.4)
Week 11 = 238.0 (-2.6)

In case you’re wondering how my 25 minute run with c25k week 6 day 3 went…

WEEK 7 HERE I COME!!

A picture post…including me

I love the TIWYF website…I also hate it. Hate it because in order for these bad boys to make it to the website you know these gluttonous creations of evilness are being consumed on a regular basis by people who for some ungodly reason think a)it’s good b) it’s okay to consume and c)…well just look at some of these pictures.

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict

Sliced doughnuts topped with brownie mix, melted Cadbury Creme Eggs and frosting, garnished with red sprinkles and served with fried pound cake chunks.

A rough estimate of calories for that dish = 1552

The Hickory Rancher

1/2 pound beef patty, muenster cheese, 7 pieces of maple bacon, sauteed onions and a housemade honey hickory BBQ sauce on a kaiser roll.

Calorie count = approx 1375. That’s lowballing it and doesn’t include what looks to be sweet potato fries and the ginormous shake.

The Flatline Burger

Double bacon cheeseburger with peanut butter deep fried and served with two sides of chipotle mayo.

First off…gross! Second off lowball calorie = 1350 (not including deep frying calories)

Bacontinos

Pretty self explanatory. Each bite carries about 126 calories each. Now I don’t know about you but I’m guessing the entire box is getting consumed.

Cherpumple Pie

Bottom: pumpkin pie inside a spice cake, middle: apple pie inside a yellow cake, top: cherry pie inside a white cake, all surrounded by cream cheese frosting.

I can’t even begin to try to figure out the calorie in this monster. 3 pies, 3 cakes with frosting = WTF!??!

Chocolate covered bacon maple donut bar

Again pretty self explanatory and gonna run you about 700 calories.

And Finally…

Upside Down Mac & Cheese Pizza

A layer of mac & cheese sandwiched between two cheese pizzas.

Because neither the cheese pizza or the box of macroni and cheese is enough. This thing will run you about 900 calories PER SLICE!!!

Okay here’s a picture totally off topic. It’s of me. The reason I’m posting it is because it was snapped this morning by my husband while I was waiting to go to work. I want everyone to look closely…

There is no double chin!!!!! Go back and look if you need to…I’ll wait.

(insert waiting music)

How cool is that?

Oh and a little sneaky peek at some tattoos. I have 36.

Yes I said 36.

I love you food, accountability and c25k week 6

Dear Food…

This has been a long in coming letter to you. I’m sorry I’ve had to make some abrupt changes in our relationship. I’m sure you understand. It couldn’t go on like this forever. One of us had to make a change and it seems that you were happy living a stagnant life of just being shoved into my mouth with no thought to how this was going to affect my weight down the road.

I don’t want to hurt your feelings. We’ve been together a long time now. Good times. Bad times. Every holiday together either enjoying each other’s company or over a toilet bowl wishing we’d never seen the likes of one another. You’ve been with me through every break up and every death I’ve had to endure. And yet, here I am letting you know I’m unhappy.

Don’t think of this as goodbye but rather a break until I can figure out how we can have a friendship together. One of mutual understanding. Friends with benefits so to speak. You’ll find someone else to love you the way I did. Trust me…you’re a hard one to resist.

I had a friend ask me today to be their accountability support today.

Me.

I can’t even begin to tell you how honored and shocked I am that someone would think I was deserving of this. People around me are moving more. I’m not forcing them. They’re doing it for themselves. People are reading my blog or seeing me take the stairs and they are following suit. Being on a life changing journey really does start to affect those around you. They start moving more and all of a sudden you feel a sense of responsibility…accountability. People start to ask little things “how did you start” “what’s the name of the podcast” “how do you stay motivated” “can I walk with you” and before you know it they are forging their own journey. It is such an honor to be a part of that. Even if it just for a moment. The more I move. The more you move. The more you move. The more I move. Round and round we go! I want more people to move. People are starting to ask about my runs and what’s my weigh in is going to look like the following Saturday. Talk about incentive. It’s not only about not letting myself down but now it’s about making sure other people aren’t let down as well.

I have another friend that said she walked yesterday because I walk more. So I did the only thing I could think of. I dedicated my c25k run to her today. It was a hard run but I didn’t want to come back and have to say “sorry, I didn’t do it today” There was no motivation during the run. Just determination to get it done for myself and my friend.

Today was the last run that included any type of walking interval mid run.

Did you just read what I wrote?

No more walking intervals from here on out. Friday is 25 minutes. Next week is all 25 minutes sessions. Week #8 is 28 minutes and the last week is 30 minutes.

*deep breath*

Don’t panic.

Never in my life (previous to Dec 29th 2009) did I ever think I’d be this close to running for 30 minutes straight. Week 1 and 2 seem so far away and if I were to run for 60 seconds now, I’d be like “is that it?”…

1 minute 6 weeks ago.

10 x’s that today (twice)

That’s amazing.

To all my friends that are moving a little more today than yesterday…

You’re amazing.

Taking the advice from other blogs…

Have you ever woke up feeling like this little guy?

What’s there not to be happy about? I mean look at that bunny suit!! How can you not feel anything but pure elation at the idea of wearing a bunny suit? And yet, there he is all sad.

Blue.

Lonely.

Frustrated.

Thinking about the past.

Worried about the future.

I can’t explain why some days I wake up and am ready to face the world in front of me. Ready to get physical. Move more, eat less. Ready to lose weight and get closer to the person I am meant to be. Ready to face whatever challenge is presented in front me and take action to be successful.

I also can’t explain why some days I wake up and put on the “bunny suit” (metaphorically speaking of course) and yet just can’t seem to get it together. Exercise is unsatisfactory. Walking my dogs for our normal 2 miles is not only unsatisfactory but frustrating. Food feels like a challenge no matter what I do to make it yummy (today’s breakfast was old fashioned oats cooked to perfection with a banana and honey – what’s not to love???) and the minutes are just tick tick ticking away at work at such a slow pace I feel like I’ve been here forever (and still only half way through the day). The scale is down (under 240 for two days now). I mean seriously, what is wrong with me today? I feel like I want to go home and crawl under the blankets and just forget that I exist.

Seriously.

Not in that “oh my god, someone call 911 we’ve got a jumper” sort of non existence feeling just a feeling of…well like that kid up there.

Defeated.

Today there is absolutely no reason to feel this way so I’m going to try to take the advice of a blog I read yesterday. NerdFitness is a blog I just found yesterday and while I found his first entry I stumbled upon a very good read, I now find it a very poignant read. He basically points out that sh*t happens. Deal with it and move on. I’m gonna try and use each point he makes to work through this.

Understand that Sh*t happens: Okay so let me try to understand the way I am feeling today. It’s not reasonable to think that everyday is going to be all “rainbows” and “butterflies”. It’s not reasonable to think that every exercise session you’ll feel great about making better choices. It’s not reasonable to think that every portion of food you put in your mouth will give you a sense of glee for making healthier choices. Some days are just not going to be that great. Today is one of those days. There is no reason to feel defeated, in fact I should let myself feel a little pride in that instead of plopping myself down in front of the computer and not doing anything, I did walk my dogs the entire 2 miles. There were parts of it I did enjoy. I did get on the wii fit and break a sweat. I did make a delicious oatmeal this morning and even enjoyed some of it.

vent: Pretty much got that covered here.

Realize that it’s not that bad: I already figured as much. I’m not in some pit of despair thinking this is what it is till the end of all time. He asks “Do you still have a pulse”? Yes? Good, cause it could be way worse. Very true. I need to keep that in perspective. The hardest thing I have to do in my life right now to move more and eat less.

Learn from it: What I need to take away from today is that I can do everything right and some days will still feel like picture up there. The good thing about today is it’s only 24 hours. Tomorrow may or may not feel any better. I won’t know till I get there so stop worrying.

Put it behind you: Gettin there.

Don’t dwell on it: Easier said than done but I know from past “episodes” that it will pass. I just need to ride it out without making any self defeating choices. I’m sure this time tomorrow I’ll be feeling better.

So here I am at the end of my “process”. Do I feel 100% better? No. But I feel like I have a better handle of what’s going on inside of me. I will just allow myself to stay in the moment and not let my mind wander off into things that a) things I can’t change and b) things that haven’t happened. Here’s what I’m going to do to work through the rest of today and give myself some much needed love:

*I’m going to stretch during every 10 minute break until I leave work. It feels good and I know it’s helping me prepare for tomorrow’s c25k week 6 day 2.

*I’m going to read all my blogs under the “we’re all in this together”. It seems that no matter what I’m feeling, someone else blogs about it too.

*I’m going to go home and immediately put on my favorite pajamas and hoodie. I’m going to curl up next to my husband and let my dogs up on the couch. They all love me unconditionally and that is more important than anything I can think of.

*I will go to bed early so that I read a little longer than usual. Before I fall asleep I will think about my run tomorrow and getting another day closer to the c25k graduation.

*I will allow myself to feel whatever it is that I’m feeling. I will not blame myself for things made up (not doing enough housework, not working enough, not saving enough money, not exercising enough, not a good enough wife). These are old tapes that play for no reason except to be self-sabotaging. Tonight it will not work. I will just feel what I’m feeling and let my emotions take care of themselves. I know from past experience that if I ride it out, it will not likely be how I’m feeling tomorrow.

Are you giving yourself the much needed love to make it through the day?

Weigh in #10, geocaching, and perpetual soreness

This weeks weigh in is a little late. Busy weekend. Keep reading!

Weigh in #10

I wouldn’t even really consider this week a weight loss as it’s so small but it’s not a gain so I’m chalking this one up to a success! My calorie intake was fine. I think it’s the microwave popcorn I ate the day before my weigh-in. Let me rephrase that: I went to the movie’s (Alice in Wonderland 3D) and snuck in 1.5 bags of microwave popcorn (and some fruit of course). The reason I think it’s salt/water retention is because I flushed out my system yesterday and saw a significant loss this morning. However I’m not using it as my weigh-in weight since Saturdays are the days and today is not Saturday!

First the picture:

Now the numbers:

Week 1 = 257.4 (-6.1)
Week 2 = 255.0 (-2.4)
Week 3 = 254.6 (-.4)
Week 4 = 253.8 (-.8) *I started c25k
Week 5 = 248.2 (-5.6)
Week 6 = 247.2 (-1.0)
Week 7 = 246.2 (-1.0)
Week 8 = 244.4 (-1.8)
Week 9 = 241.0 (-3.4)
Week 10= 240.6 (-.4)

That brings my total up to -22.9.

I reached my goal of 240 so I did just what I said I was going to do in weigh-in #9 which is buy myself a pair of pants. In case you’re wondering what kind of pants…keep reading!

Geocaching:

I bought a new pair of hiking pants as my reward for hitting 240! Then I went geocaching for 4 hours this past Saturday. It was just about the most fun ever! My friend Heidi is an avid geocacher and took me on an awesome series. I’m not sure of the mileage covered but after 4 hours of nothing but hunting and walking I’d say I covered at least 10 miles (AT LEAST). I was so tired (and sore) that it gave me a good reason to move my running days to Monday, Wednesday, Friday instead of Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. What a great way to get a great workout!

Perpetual soreness:

Not that this is a bad thing. I’m just always sore. Especially the back of my thighs and calves after sitting for long periods of time (and unfortunately my work has me doing just that). Some days (like Sunday) I’m sore enough in my muscles that I fore-go any type of exercise. I think the most exercise I did on Sunday was to go to my local Metropolitan market to pick up some Sole and organic veggies.

Today was a run day. Week 6 day 1 of c25k. I am 8 sessions away from graduating. I am so gonna buy me one of those shirts.

Lots of people are inquiring about whether or not I’ve picked a 5k to run. The answer is no, not yet. I’m not ready. Both physically and mentally. I want to finish the c25k and then run 3 x week at 30 minutes for a few weeks to build up stamina. I may pick one as my graduation “gift” but it would be in the Summer time before it was happening (Or at least late Spring). When I do run, I’ll be wearing that shirt up there for sure!!!

20 minute milestone and oh hey it’s my anniversary

Oh how I know you want to see this picture!

Take your time and read that piece of paper real slow.

Doesn’t that feel good?

This morning was such a jumble of emotions I’m not even sure how to put them down on this blog. I was nervous leaving the house. My husband gave me a hug and I almost broke down crying. I decided that the water would be where I wanted to make this accomplishment. In the car, I cry. This is a moment that I’ve been working towards for the last 5 weeks and here it was. In the beginning I couldn’t even imagine what 20 minutes would be like but by the end of the run I would finally know…can I or can’t I?

I hear a lot of people saying how they modified their own c25k program. I came to the decision to follow through with how it’s set up. No repeats or modified times. I have to trust that coolrunning.com knows what they’re talking about when they made this program. They wouldn’t suggest running for 20 minutes if after all this work prior to today they didn’t think it could be done.

There would be no modification. Just a resolution to run with no interruption for 20 minutes. I stretched for an extra long time. Closed my eyes and saw what I wanted to see, took a deep breath and let Robert Ullrey coax me into starting.

Immediately my brain went into panic mode (“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” “YOU REALIZE THIS IS FOR 20 MINUTES RIGHT?!!?”). However I knew from previous experience that I could do 5 minutes easily and 8 minutes without any complications. So I talk myself out of that panic mode by remember that I don’t need to worry about anything until at least the 8 minute mark.

Robert tells me 5 mins is over. I do a quick check in: legs feel fine, calves feel a little burn, breathing normally.

Then he told me 8 minutes was over. I’m in a good place. Breathing is heavy but not out of control. I test this by saying “Tara, you deserve this”. Yep, sentence coming out easy. Now I’m in uncharted territory. No matter what happens from here I’m running farther today than I did Tuesday.

10 minutes! Time to turn around and head back from where I started. I’m in some strange zone now. This is the zone I’ve been waiting for. Not really attainable previously because by the time I reach it it’s time to stop and walk. The only way I can describe it is like when you’re driving and at some point you realize you weren’t really thinking about driving or what had happened during the previous minute or two. You can’t recall what you saw, what you were thinking and then all of sudden you know you’re driving again.

That’s the zone I was waiting for. I’m not thinking about my feet anymore. I’m just running. I’m not thinking about time any more. I’m just running. I’m not thinking about anything. I’m.Just.Running.

I have waited all my life for this. No joke. I’ve always wanted to be a runner. Ever since I can remember. I want to wear a number on my shirt and run with a bunch of other runners. Some faster. Some slower. I want to cross a finish line.

At some point Robert informs me that if I was running day two of this week I only had about 4 minutes left….quick calculation: I only had 2 minutes left of this 20 minute journey. I’m back in my head again. Time to focus. 18 minutes down. Slow and steady.

Like a kitten snuggling up and purring in my ear, Robert announces that if I was running day three my time was up.

Just like that, I’ve crossed over a threshold of this program. I’ve crested the top of the hill and I’m looking at the downward slope of getting to the goal of running my first 5k. For the next 3 weeks I’ll slowly be building up to a total of 30 minutes running non stop. Going from 8 minutes to 20 is the biggest jump. I’ve already done it. Going from 20 to 25, then 25 to 28 and finally 28 to 30 is nothing compared to what I just did today.

Tell me about your top of the hill and what do you see at the bottom?

Oh and hey, it’s my anniversary. On this day 6 years ago, I was screaming down I-5 to get to Portland Oregon to get married legally in the time limit allowed. For those that know me well you’ll know what I’m talking about. For those that don’t: I’m super queer**! That means I can’t get married legally to my partner. The person that I love more than anything else in this world. The person I would easily lay down my life. Except 6 years ago for a brief 72 hours Portland Oregon was issuing marriage licenses (right around the same as it’s big brother to the south California).

I got married on this day 6 years ago.

3 Weeks later the state of Oregon sent us a letter and a refund check telling up to rip up the license. It was no longer valid. Well F*ck you very much but if you don’t mind I’ll keep the license.

Oh and too all those straight couples that got married on the same day and divorced soon after…pffffffffffffffft.

**If you know me then you know my husband. Nuff said. If you don’t know me then it’s a little complicated. My husband was not always my husband. He was my girlfriend but never my boyfriend. He was my husband but never my wife. Still confused? Go here

Gratitude Adjustment…Fage discovery

I was reading an entry over at SeattleRunnerGirl’s blog about taking credit for our success and it dawned on me that I’ve not really ever given myself credit for what I have done success wise in the last few months. And as a matter of fact I’ve not given myself enough credit for my successes over my lifetime.

Today I’m going to have a gratitude adjustment. If you haven’t had one in a while and you’ve been beating yourself up over something trivial I suggest you do the same.

Here are some of my success:

I am the survivor of an alcoholic mother. One of my brothers died due to his drug abuse and another brother is close to being on the way out because of his alcoholism. It’s in our genes. I will not follow in their footsteps today.
I am a recovering meth-head. That’s saying alot considering I have many friends (or at least they were my friends during the time of using 20 years ago) that did not survive their use/abuse. Again, I will not be following in their footsteps.
I put myself through school and do what I love to do. Not many people can say “I want to be a (insert fantasy job here) when I grow up” an actually do it. When I was 12 years old I said I wanted to be a sign language interpreter and here I am today doing it…and doing it very well.
I quit smoking 2 years ago. It’s been an ongoing battle for my entire adult (and not so adult) life. I started when I was 12. Even after my mother was diagnosed and subsequently died of lung cancer, I continued to smoke. I have quit before (5 years is my longest time as a non smoker) and I hope to never quit again.
I paid off all my credit cards. I did it during the financial downfall of 2008/2009. Not many people can say the same.
I’ve lost 22 pounds since December 29th 2009. It may not seem like much but I’ve done it solely on eating less and moving more. NO pills. NO diet fads. NO Tony Little. Just eating less and moving more.
I have completed 5 of the 8 weeks in Couch to 5k. What I couldn’t do 6 weeks ago was run 60 seconds. What I can do this week is run 8 minutes. This will not be what I can do next week. I will be running longer, guaranteed!

For all of these things I say “Job well done, Tara!”

What’s your gratitude adjustment look like?

Fage:

I’ve heard people talking about it.

A lot!

So I tried it tonight with blueberries and some honey (2 tbsp just in case I didn’t like it)…

Not only did I like it, but I loved it. And at 160 calories for a tasty bowl of fage, 3 oz fresh blueberries and 2 tbsp on honey (which I know I don’t need all of that so more like 120 calories), this is going to be my new favorite treat.

Tell me how you eat your fage!

My own domain, 8 minutes! and motivation update…

My own domain:

It’s official. I decided to go ahead and purchase the domain name “263andcounting”. At only $14 you can’t beat it and it looks all official and stuff. I thought about coming up with some catchy kind of name like others I’ve seen around but I’d rather just keep it honest. I started at 263 and I don’t ever want to be there again. EVER! I have to admit that some of your blog names out there are just about the bees knees. However my bees knees are hella pudgy so for now I remain 263andcounting.com

8 minutes:

(insert kick ass drumroll)…

Now before you go and assume I’m throwing up some crazy ass gang sign (cause I know I look that dangerous and I am wearing red and my home town is pretty much riddled with gangsters) remember I’m a sign language interpreter and holding my phone and using both hands to signify the number 8 isn’t conducive for taking a picture.

My interpreter/deaf friends know what that says but for my ASL impaired readers let me just reiterate: I JUST RAN FOR 8 MINUTES!!

Let that sink in.

And it wasn’t as hard as I had imagined.

Seriously.

No seriously.

Same story as before. I woke up nervous. Sunday’s run was three 5 minute intervals and surprisingly (but maybe not really tooooo surprisingly as I’m noticing a pattern) it was easier to do these 5 minute intervals than previously attempted. There would be no 5 minute run today to lead into the 8 minute interval. It was the warm-up and then off I go for the 8 minutes.

I’m no longer concerned about speed when I run. I took my HRM (heart rate monitor) with me on Sunday and determined that I’m hitting my target rate (144-150) even at my slower pace. I’ll take it!

Slow and steady. The first 5 minutes go by and I hear Robert Ullrey (the podcast man) inform me that if this was my first day to go ahead and walk for 3 minutes. As this was my second day I know that I needed to keep going. The next time I was going to hear that man’s voice he was going to be whispering in my ear that my 8 minutes was over and to walk for 5 minutes.

If there was ever a time I appreciated a man’s voice in my ear it was 3 minutes later…

I was done with my first interval. 3 weeks ago I said it was the first time I’d ever run for 90 seconds. 2 weeks ago I said 3 minutes was the longest I’d ever run. Last week, it was 5 minutes. Today for the first time in my life I ran for 8 minutes.

(insert crying…blah blah blah, walk for 5 minutes)

The second interval was harder than the first but I did it once I would do it again. I’m pretty sure that if an elderly lady was walking next to me she’d pass me like a corvette next to a Studebaker but sooner than later than expected it was 8 minutes and I was done for the day.

Week 5 day 2 = FINISHED!

Thursday will be a full 20 minutes of running without any walking breaks. I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m finding that just as I’m getting into a comfortable form for running it’s time to stop and getting back to that form is harder the second or third time around.

This is starting to get exciting folks! I’m closer to the end than I was the beginning. Everyday I am pleasantly surprised and proud of what my body is accomplishing. I’ve been stretching more and can tell the difference in how my shins are feeling. No pain this time around!

Motivation;

I’ve gotten some really great responses to my last post. The consensus is that motivation is overrated. Motivation (or lack there of) can keep you from doing what needs to be done. I don’t get motivated to go to work. I just go. I don’t get motivated to pay the bills. I just pay them. I don’t get motivated to take care of the ones I love. I just do it (hello nike ad). Where motivation can fail, determination (thanks Seattle Runner Girl) lingers as long as I want it bad enough.

I do.

Do you?

I think I found my 5k…

Am I running too slow?

Weigh in #11…A new catergory!

A picture post…including me

I love you food, accountability and c25k week 6

Taking the advice from other blogs…

Weigh in #10, geocaching, and perpetual soreness

20 minute milestone and oh hey it’s my anniversary

Gratitude Adjustment…Fage discovery

My own domain, 8 minutes! and motivation update…

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