My Journey to 13.1 or From Couch Potato to 20 K

Rough Going

Progress has definatly been slowed as over the past month and a half I've had bronchitis, a sinus infection, and an ear infection. All. At. Once. I had to take three weeks off from running, but was able to hack (pun intended) some swimming.

Last Saturday, though, I was able to get out. And get out I did. I managed to do three miles on the Ohio River Greenway along the (wait for it) Ohio River. There's a paved walking path that runs along the top of the levee for a few miles and it's got a great view of the city on the other side of the river. It was the first chance I'd had to try out my fancy new running shoes. I'd invested some money in a pair of Nike Lunar Glides. It's the first pair of real running shoes I've bought and I was impressed. While the fancy insoles that the salesgirl talked me into caused me to roll my ankles out (yikes!), the shoes were like running on pillows.

On Tuesday I got back to the Y and had a great run, I did 2.8 miles on the treadmill, and with the insoles removed, my shoes performed beautifully. Wednesday had me feeling a little bit sluggish and I only got 2 miles in. And, unfortunately, Thursday had me feeling in not a running kind of way. Today it was apparent why. I'm sick. Again. This will make the third time since Christmas and it's got me bummed.  I'm hoping it's just a mild crud, but that's not the way these things have gone for me.

On the upside, I have a shorter term goal to work for, the Run For Your Lives5K in Indy on June 23rd. It's a 5K obstical course race complete with zombies! Check it out here: Run For Your Lives.

 

280 days 'till Memphis.

A Boring Update

Things have been going well, I'm lucky to have been blessed with a body that responds very well to exercise. I've gone from a 1.3 mile half hour to a 1.9 mile half hour, my blood pressure has gone down, and my working heart rate has gone down. And? The best part? I've lost 5 pounds. The downside is that I plateau very quickly, so I have to keep thing mixed up. Maybe I have more of my dad's athlete genes than I had originally thought.

This weekend has been a bummer, though. I have bronchitis. Again. This has slowed me down, some. I powered through a fast walk yesterday but had to skip today. Sitting in the not-so-urgent care clinic for three hours was all I could handle. Hopefully I will be able to manage some swimming tomorrow, and get that in before the curtain climbers descend on the pool.

I'm getting a decent tax return, so I have the "new shoes" thing in the bag. I guess being poor has its benefits.

Only 306 days to go.

 

My Journey to 13.1

I've been absent from my blog for around a year, and a lot has happened. I left Indianapolis (good riddance), moved back to the Louisville area, found a guy, lost a guy, and discovered I was intrinsically unhappy. This wasn't really a big surprise, but I'd done a good job of distracting myself and coasting along on life's highs, instead of being really happy. I guess I'd convinced myself that I was happy without really being happy. As much as I hate to credit him with anything, I have to give the last dumper (let's call him "Dumper") credit for kicking off this journey of self discovery.

In short, it's time to find out what really makes me happy.

The easiest and most obvious thing to fix was my decent into couchpotatodom. Enter my old friend, running. The local Y was running a January "no fee to join" special, it was time to take the first step. Saturday I signed up and immediately jumped on the treadmill. My first jaunt was unimpressive, at best. Fortunately I have been gifted with a body that responds incredibly well to exercise. Five runs later I've improved my distance by a half mile, my heart rate has slowed, and I'm running at longer intervals. I've added a pre run lap swim to my regime and that has actually seemed to improve my runs. Plus, the therapy pool is awesome for stretching. I've also seen an improvement in my mood and a drop in anxiety. Runner's high, indeed!

Today I set a goal, I'd like to run the St. Jude  half marathon in Memphis in December. That's 20 Kilometers, or 13.1 miles. I have 317 days to get it together.

I'm going to need some new shoes.