Running.

I run.

I have running shoes.

I have a way a prefer my hair to be when I run.

I have running clothes.

I have running apps.

I run.

All of this is still so weird.  About 7 weeks ago I decided I wanted to run, out of the blue.  I downloaded a Couch to 5k (C25k) app on my iphone and hopped on the treadmill (It was really hot outside and I decided I shouldn't push my luck by running for the first time in forever in the blazing heat).  I liked it, and I did it again, and again and again.  Now I run 2-5 times a week.  I didn't write about it on this blog for a long time because I didn't want it to be one of those things that I made a big deal about for a week or two and then stopped running.  So I am sure you want to hear all about the beginning of my running story, right?

I have never been an active person.  Yeah I was on swim team and soccer teams growing up, I played a year of soccer in high school and did four years of cheerleading,  I periodically do some Jillian Michaels and hiking but have never been consistent with physical activity.  Well learning about how important exercise is over and over again in nursing school eventually wore on me.  I know I want to be healthy.  Weirdly, I also didn't want my heart rate to be in upper normal.  I think what finally broke me was the fact that I had been eating so healthy so I had more energy and wanted to get moving.  Either way one day I just began.

Starting, I loved my Couch to 5k app, it pushed me and it was a program I followed.  I did four weeks of it, repeated the fourth week, took a week off from the app (though not running) and so far have done one day of week 5.  If you aren't familiar with the program the basic concept is that it is a running program for beginners and over the course of 8 weeks it increases the amount of time you run.  You can repeat weeks or skip weeks.   I repeated week 4 because I struggled through it the first time and then didn't follow the program the next week because I was out of town, didn't run alone and thus just followed the person who I was running with.

I will finish all 8 weeks mainly because I want to complete it but I trust myself more now to push myself and just get out and run.  Simultaneously to running with C25k I also run the Nike running app so that I can know my distance and such.  For example yesterday I really wanted to get out and run a nice long run.  I was at a friend's house and I started a loop knowing that once I got to a certain point I just had to finish because I was so far out.  I finished the 35 minutes of the C25k and then free styled it for the last 20 minutes.  I am so sore but it was so great.

So there you have it.  I really want to do some more posts about things I have learned about and while running but I also want to answer any questions you may have so please comment and ask me questions!  If you have any inkling to start running I encourage you to just do it, you will feel so great about yourself and I would also recommend the C25k program to get started.