Sometimes when I am doing something else, like driving or at the grocery store, I compose these amazingly witty and clever blog posts. They are naturally filled with informative updates and good humor. The type of updates I get to read on everyone else's blogs. Unfortunately nine times out of ten my follow through is lacking, and somewhere between the cashier's station and my laptop all of my clever turn of phrases and wit goes out the window. I have come to the sad conclusion that if I want to remedy this situation I need to either bring a tape recorder with me everywhere (and stop caring what strangers think) or actually sit down and dedicate some time to the process.
Sadly, today readers, you might just have to settle for what I can produce.
As I am just getting into running, and as always by running I am completely referring to me jogging. I don't exactly understand when it turns into to running but I am pretty sure you need to be much closer to a 10 minute mile to even venture out on the running tree. I have been trying to at least complete one 5K a month. I have been pretty successful thus far, and actually am getting to the point where I enjoy running vs. just tolerating it as an free exercise that helps me get in shape. Shock of all shocks I might be experiencing the mythical runners high. Because I don't tend to do anything half way I have been reading up and researching a lot about other runners. Some of the blogs I follow have people who have also been completing 5K's or starting the C25K program (couch to 5K), a few were farther down the road than I and had been talking about after the first 1.5 miles things just get easier, you find your stride, you push through a wall and BAM you are a runner. Last month I would have flat out told you these people are crazy, delusional and well frankly not like me. But a month ago I had never run a mile without stopping to walk. April 16th, 2013 just about 26 hours after that tragic Boston Marathon bombings* I jogged, granted at an extremely slow pace, 3.1 miles without stopping. It wasn't even hard. That is the crazy part that I can't quite wrap my mind around, I think if I didn't eventually need to leave the gym I could have kept going, and going. And like that BAM I was a runner.
Since last September when I started to be active again and losing weight I knew that if I truly wanted to see some changes I was going to have to start smartly investing in myself. That included my WW monthly fees, investing in workout items, purchasing 5K entries and beyond. The beyond for me recently has been a GPS enabled watch, it uses GPS to track my distance and show my current average pace. I researched and asked around, I didn't need a fancy $300.00 dollar watch, I didn't even truly care about the distance part, I just wanted something that could show me my pace per mile in real time. I settled on the Timex Marathon series, and let me tell you, I LOVE it. LOVE. L.O.V.E, love it. It does exactly what I need it to and no more. Plus I picked it up for a budget friendly $78.00, a majority of it was paid for with gift card from Christmas (Thank you Dad and Barb). The next needed purchase will be a new pair of running shoes. I haven't been professionally fitted in shoes since at least high school, and just this morning I saw a news story about how losing or gaining weight can effect your shoe size and a proper fit. Plus I have probably only read about a hundred articles about how an improperly fitted shoe can cause injury. Within the next 7 days I have two 5K's scheduled, after that the plan is to head to Kyle's Bike Shop, at this store they will watch your running stride and properly fit you in shoes. The investment in myself will definitely pay off!
*In a world so large, it is sometimes truly humbling to think about how connected everyone really is. One of my college friends ran the Boston Marathon last Monday. They had tweeted and posted on facebook the whole weekend prior about picking up his packet and how you could follow his race progress through various websites and apps. Luckily for him and all of our mutual friends he finished at least an hour and half prior to the bombings and was safely back at his hotel. He was also fortunate to be able to change his travel plans, he left Boston in a rental car Monday night and later took his flight out of DC
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