Couch to 5K

I know you are all probably expecting some more reasons as to why NC is so awesome, but honestly I am getting a little burned out and wanted to blog about something else. Don't worry, I haven't run out of reasons and I will continue that series periodically.

Yesterday was June 1st, which not only meant that it was my lil' bro's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONTO!) but that it was time for me and Justin to get started on our running plan. A couple weeks ago, Justin and I were on one of our evening strolls. I had a crazy thought that we should train for a 5K together. We have both been trying to get more 'in shape' by taking the occasional visit to the gym or by going on walks. I thought that if we trained for a 5K together, it would help us get into shape, be more active, enjoy the outdoors and still have time to bond with one another. I ran cross country for 2 years in middle school and all 4 years in high school. I was actually on the varsity team and made it to the State Meet with the team. It is funny how I haven't run since my senior year. We decided to pick the date, June 1st, to start our new plan. We chose June because we both needed new running shoes (mine were 4 years old).

On Saturday night, we decided to be spontaneous and go out and buy our shoes. Sure enough, we were successful and came back home with two new pairs of running shoes. We decided to do a 'test jog' that night. At 9:30 pm, nice and cool in the dark, we jogged down the street (0.7 miles) and walked back home. This was fairly easy since it is all down hill and we conveniently walked the uphill ;) Monday morning, our neighbor, Derek, invited us to go on another run. This time it was a 2 mile loop around a nice lake in Apex. I managed to run through 1 mile, and then walked the rest. The entire time I was running my mile I kept thinking, "Why am I doing this? This is so painful! I hate running! This is torture! Running is not meant for females with mature bodies! This is the worst idea I ever had..." Get the point?

So yesterday was the first day of June and we decided to stick to our plan and go for a run. We laced up our shoes and discovered a new lake near our house. The lake is a 1.2 mile loop. We ran about 1 mile of it and then walked the rest. Unfortunately, it has been in the upper 90's down here, not to mention the extreme humidity. So it looks like we started our running during ideal running conditions... not! Our plan is to run every-other-day. We are just taking it as it goes and hopefully going to build up our mileage. We do not have an actual 5K race scheduled to run, but maybe in the fall one will come up. I found this workout plan called Couch-to-5K online, and we were planning on using it for our training.

Although it has been a little bit of a bumpy start, we have been dedicated this entire week and have actually ran every-other-day. As much as I hate running while I am doing it, I do feel pretty good afterward (like an hour after). It is nice to be active and be consistent with it. Who knows, maybe next we will train for a marathon.... NOT!!