For the first time in a loooooong time, I went to the gym after work yesterday. It was probably the first time since the first week of March. Yes, it's been that long. I wanted to start running again, so I looked up the couch-to-5K program. If you want to start running, and don't know how - this is the program for you. It took me 6 months to almost complete it last year, from May to the end of November, running my first 5K in December. Although I wasn't completed trained for it, I ran it anyway, and really thought I did my best.
When I went to the gym last night, I knew I wanted to run, I really want to become a runner, although I don't know when that takes place, or what the prequisites are. I'm determined, even if I never achieve the dream of running a marathon, I want to be a runner. Okay so I looked up the couch-to-5K plan, and I was going to start the whole program over and try to train myself to run faster, but I stepped on the treadmill with an open mind of what I was going to do.
I started walking, before I knew it I walked .5 mile. Okay, time to run. Now, when I first joined the gym, I "ran" at a speed of about 4.3 - yeah, not really running. I'm sure some of you walk at 4.3. In my defense I do have short legs.
Anyways, I started running after walking .5 mile. I thought I'd run about .25 and walk .5 and repeat. Nope, I ran .5! Another great thing though was that I can now run at the speed of 5.5 - that's huge for me! I actually got tired at one point and put the speed down to 5 and I couldn't do it, it was like an awkward run/walk/skip thing. I also ran 0.05 mile at 6! I know, I know, it's like 30 seconds, but still, that's something, right?!
The best part was I continued the pattern of running 1/2 mile and walking 1/4 mile 3 times for a total of a 3.3 miles! No, I lied, the best part was finishing up a 5K (3.1 miles) faster than the time of my actual 5K in December!!!
I was SO excited at this! I could have jumped, skipped and hollered out of the gym I was so excited. I beat my time by like 30 seconds, but still. Also, I took walk breaks, and not just for 1 minute, but for about 5 minutes because my walking speed was about 3.5. This is SO encouraging for me, I know that I can keep running now, and someday consider myself...
.....a RUNNER!
When did you first consider yourself a runner? What was your last "exercise victory"?
I love that picture of a pony!
ReplyDeleteI still don't really consider myself a "runner" but for some reason I recently got a pair of running sunglasses and now I feel like a runner (since I know look like one). Silly, right?
It took someone telling me that I was a runner for me to actually consider myself one. I had just finished my first 10 mile race and I said, "I can't wait until I can call myself a distance runner" One of the people who I ran the race with looked at me with a strange look on her face and said, "ugh Jana, you are a distance runner" (this was in September) Even after that... it was difficult. I was never athletic so to be put in a category with others that were was kind of hard. Now that I have been running consisently for about 10.5 months. I do classify myself as one.
ReplyDeleteMy last exercise victory was yesterday. I ran 7 miles did it in about 10 min/mile. That is huge for me. It was a long winter with no outdoor running. It has been challenging. But yesterday. It was AWESOME! Totally motivated me for my big one I have coming up this weekend.