Day One, Take Two

I ran again tonight for the first time in 10 days, so I'm pretty much starting over. This challenge has taught me that I can't just drop an exercise regimen into my existing schedule. This is going to require change. After I ran last week, I almost immediately felt like I was coming down with a cold and was sick for the rest of the week. Now I know that I need twice as much sleep to let my body recharge. Bedtime will have to change drastically, which means the rest of my day will have to be managed more efficiently.

After I got over my illness, I still didn't run for a few days because I was busy with some household projects. I helped Trea stain our deck.

And now it's beautiful.

And I changed our bedroom from this:

To this:

We planned to run on Tuesday, but that was the day of the great flood, after which we were delighted by this:

So after all our hard work, tonight I ran. I decided just to go out in our neighborhood instead of taking extra time to drive to the park. About five minutes into it, I remembered something very important: we live on a mountain! I'm still using Podrunner, which alternates walking and running to build up stamina, but today I also used Nike Plus for the first time. Now I have a sensor in my shoe that keeps track of my progress and coordinates with my iPhone. As I listen to music with my iPhone, a female Nike Plus voice will come over the speakers and tell me how I'm doing. As I was running as hard as I could up a very steep hill, I heard her say, "Activity stopped," and my music went silent. Activity STOPPED? Seriously?? Well, thank you very much, Nike Plus. Apparently my pace was so pathetic that my shoe sensor thought I had retired to the sofa. I let the Nike Plus lady know she better check again. I was able to restart my music and track my workout where it left off. It was a little irritating to be insulted by my own phone, but at the same time, I definitely needed a boost. Classifying my hardest effort into "activity stopped" was just the motivation I needed to get to the top of the hill.

I have a profile on Nike's website, and each time I sync my iPhone with my computer, my running progress will automatically be entered onto the site. You can see it here: http://my.nike.com/ataylor13. Today I logged 2.05 miles in 28:27 minutes. That includes both running and walking. I have a long way to go before I can run two miles, but I'm determined. Now that I know how difficult this will be for me, I can plan appropriately and get back on track.

Day one

When I told Trea about my goal, he immediately hopped on board and decided he's going to run too. We do everything else together, so I should have seen this coming. Later I began to believe he was only interested in this new hobby because new hobbies mean shopping for new gear. I needed new running shoes, so we both got new running shoes. I first looked for an arm strap so I could run with my iPhone, but someone talked me into getting an adorable little iPod shuffle instead. Guess who else got a new iPod shuffle to match mine. Well, mine is pink; he opted for silver. So after a weekend of impulse shopping and talking about running, today we put our gear to the test.

We went to the park/goose pond walking trail in our hometown, which turned out to be a beautiful area. I had never been on the other side of the pond, and I have been missing out all these years. There's a flowing stream and little waterfalls from all the rain we've had lately; it's perfect. It was a nice, cool evening, and there were lots of other runners out to inspire us. I had downloaded Podrunner interval training for us (Thank you, Amber!), which helps you slowly build up from walking to running. The rhythm of the music tells you how fast to go and when to switch from walking to running. It was so helpful! We started out at a brisk walk, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. We saw the most perfect runner in the world, and I said, "Look, that's going to be us in a few months." And then the music changed.

After switching from walking to running a few times, I was ready to call it a day. The flowing stream that I loved so much 10 minutes earlier infuriated me when I saw that it was flowing right over the pathway - and into my new shoes. And after the perfect runner lapped us for the 23rd time, I decided that I hated him. Running is hard, y'all. Thankfully, my running buddy had enough energy for both of us and was always a few steps ahead encouraging me not to give up. I finished the whole workout, which was about 25 or 30 minutes of walking and running, and then we walked a little farther to cool down. Podrunner says to complete this workout at least two more times this week. I hope my shoes are dry by Wednesday. I also hope I don't smack my running buddy if I have to hear one more time, "That wasn't bad at all."

See Anna run?

I'm going to run a 5K. But the problem is I don't run. Or venture far from the couch.

I'm 29, and my pants don't fit. I'm lazy and I eat pizza multiple times a week. I go to work, come home, go to work, come home, go to work... I need a goal. I need something outside of work that's productive and good for me. Something that makes me happy.

Will running myself into exhaustion make me happy? Likely not at first, and you'll get to read about that. But I'm going to push through the pain, fit into my old pants and accomplish a goal. It's going to be very difficult, and that's why I've started this blog. I hope that someone reads this and holds me accountable. When you see me, ask, "How's the running going?" If I don't have anything to report, please be judgmental and express your disappointment in my lack of commitment. I'll thank you for it later.