I Did It!

Good morning my running peeps!  As I told you before, I am using the Couch to 5K app on my iPhone.  It CLAIMS I can be running a whole 5K in less than 9 weeks.  Well, that's for someone who is obviously an athlete and not a true couch potato!  Here is how the program worksl.  It  is divided into 9 weeks with different goals for each week.  It is also based on a 3 runs a week.  So the first week begins with a 5 minute brisk walk.  Then you alternate 60 second runs with 90 second walks.  You do this  for eight runs total.  Then you end with a 5 minute cool down walk.  Now if you do not complete the entire 8 runs, the program somehow knows you didn't and it will give you another  running minute.  What a bitch, right?

Anyways, I started this program on June 13 and completed 5 days of it before I was diagnosed with a bronchial infection! In the those 5 days I never made it past week 1!  Nor did I ever complete the entire 8 running intervals!!!  Of course I was also competing with  lung guppies for air the entire time! 

So, today I decided to try it again.  While I'm still on an inhaler twice a day, I have stopped coughing non-stop, the lung guppies are few and far between, and there is only one more day of antibiotic.  So why not try it?  I decided to just start over with day 1 and see how it goes!  I am happy to report that I ran all 8 running minutes and was not penalized with an additional minute!!!  It is amazing how well you can do when you can actually breathe!  Now let's make it clear that these were not easy runs.  I struggled to achieve each and everyone of the those 60 seconds!  I would start looking at the phone at about 25 seconds out.  But I did not give up and I completed everyone of those suckers!  I'm sure to passer bys that I looked like I was dying.  There were a couple of coughing spells along the way.  And if I'm honest, I have to admit that I even wet myself one time! There was a massive lung guppy hiding in my chest!  I'm surprised that no one called the squad on me!!  It would have been embarassing to explain that I was just an over weight, middle aged woman with some hairbrained idea that I need to "train" for a 5K! 

I will give you a tip that I use with this program.  I am a visual person.  So, I have to set visual goals.  I can't just run until the program's uber bitch says walk!  When she tells me to run, I look ahead and select a landmark that I think is 60 seconds away.  I won't let myself quit until I get there.  The deal I made with myself  is this:  If I make there and I can keep runnng I will.  If not, I stop and start walking before the witch tells me I can!  It's not a perfect science because sometimes my distance is too long and sometimes it is too short.  Either way though, it helps me pace myself.  And one other tip!  Sometimes I scare myself because I see my shadow running and I think someone is coming up behind me!  Then I realize, that that shadow is me!  It is a whole new mindset!

So, I did it!  I made it through the entire program today.  I have to admit that I am pretty proud of myself.  Given how sick I've been and how long it's been, I was pleasantly surprised.

Until the next time,
Denise Running?