Couch to 5K-Time To Hit The Pavement

David at the finish line of the 5K he ran over the 4th of July

We had a cold snap here in Michigan.  We had a few days where the highs didn't get above 70 degrees.  Which meant I had to wear pants or freeze.  I put on my favorite pair of jeans, and while I could get them buttoned, they were a bit snugger than they were in the spring.  Oops.

While I would like to get depressed over the fact that I've gained weight this summer, that is hardly productive.  I decided to look at it as a blessing in disguise.

It's only the middle of August which means I have a good six weeks before I will need to start wearing my jeans again on a regular basis.  Six weeks to undo the damage I did thanks to too much ice cream and a very hot summer that kept me indoors.

There is a 5K race in my village in late October.  I have decided to train for it.  The last (and only) time I have run a 5K was a few weeks before I got married, over ten years ago.  I ran it in under 35 minutes, and that's about all I can say about that experience.

I have just under ten weeks to train.  Which is perfect considering the Couch to 5K training program takes ten weeks.  Monday morning I hit the pavement for day one of my training.  Tuesday was an off day, but I needed hamburger buns for dinner so the kids and I road our bikes to the grocery store rather than drive.  While a one mile bike ride isn't all that much exercise, it is a whole lot more difficult biking uphill while hauling your almost five year old on a tag-a-long bike who hasn't learned the finer arts of peddling consistently and sitting up straight versus wobbling all over the place.  By the time we got home I had worked up a sweat.  This morning I did day two of training.  It was easier than day one, but I definitely have a long way to go before I'll be ready to run a 5K.

So why am I sharing about this here?  Because every time I think about running again, I run maybe for a week and then quit because life gets in the way, or I'm tired, or sore, or it's cold, or too hot, or one of a million other excuses.  This time I want to be accountable.  Even if I have to walk the entire 3.1 miles and look like a fool in front of all the people who know me in this town, I am going to finish that race.  I already signed myself and David up for the race so there's no wheedling out of it or changing my mind.

My hope is that by putting this out there, I will feel pressured into completing the training so that I can actually run the entire 5K at a pace slightly faster than a snail.  Turtle speed would be even better.  I won't even pretend that I will be able to beat David's time.  Yes, it is slightly embarrassing that my almost nine year old son will be running circles around me.  But I won't focus on that.  Instead I will focus on setting and attaining my own personal goal because it will make me feel like I've accomplished something big.  And if my jeans fit a little looser come fall, all the better.