Running!!

Last fall, I decided I needed to start running. I wanted Maisy to get more tired on our outings. I thought that 30 minutes of running should use more energy than 30 minutes of walking. I had family and friends that had used the Couch-to-5K training program and had good success with it. I am not a runner. I had no intentions of ever running further than across a busy intersection. I really loved our dear dog and wanted to do right by her, so I downloaded the C25K app on my phone and started training. 

I emailed Jon often after my runs to give him an idea of how things went.

week 1 Day 1:
It went pretty well. There were 8 rotations of running/walking. The first 3 were ok, but then it just got harder after that. By the 7th I thought I might die. The 8th I felt good because I knew it was my last one. Then on the 5 minute cool down I thought "I think I can actually do this!!" Maisy was pretty good. There were a couple times that she jumped at the leash, and once she even pulled it out of my hand. I let her run for a few seconds, then said "Follow" and changed directions and she came right to me. Good girl. She was watching me a lot more too, probably because I kept going back and forth from running to walking. By the end of my running cycles too I thought she was just showing off because I was struggling just to jog and she was just trotting along like it was no big deal. :) Oh well, I'm glad she was with me to pull me along. 

week 1 Day 2

I just ran around the block because I didn't want to wait for Sean's class. So I asked him if he would be ok with just working and then he could see me each lap. He said that was ok. Maisy was more jumpy this time, maybe because of the rain. I bought some pants at goodwill that are super for keeping my phone dry, so I can still hear the chimes for running/walking. When I go Sunday I'd like to go without Maisy. Just for a little change. I feel like I did pretty well this time, stamina wise, until the last round of running. I just hobbled along.... But I did it!! Then Sean read off the stretches for me to do. He's such a helper. 

week 5 day 2

I ran 2 reps of 8 minutes. Do you know the last time I ran 8 minutes in a row?? Probably my freshman year. So, over 20 years ago. Now I feel old, but also amazing!! This is giving me some great self confidence.

week 6 day 2

I was just looking at the map to figure out how far I went. It was about 2.5 miles. 5k is about 3.1 miles. Getting closer!! From here on out my runs will just be a big chunk and slower increase until I'm up to 30 minutes at a time. I feel so excited that I've come this far. Maisy did ok. She was a crazy person when there were other dogs around. *sigh* There's a field where I just let go of her leash and she did well with staying with me. When I was running on the boardwalk I was nervous because parts were still frosty. I kept thinking positively so I wouldn't slip and break something. It was a nice run. Still hard, made harder with maisy and the frost, but good. I didn't feel tired this time, just energized

week 7 day 1

My right knee started hurting around 10 minutes in. I walked for about 15 seconds and then got back to running. That seemed to help for a while. I'll have to work on figuring out how to avoid that. I tried lengthening my strides for about 20 seconds and that was fun. I try to apply the "lean" in my running too. It's a lot to think about and keep track of but I'm enjoying these dog free runs and I'm trying to take advantage of the time to really focus on my body and what it's doing and how I can improve. My body is pretty amazing. :) It just keeps going.

week 8 day 3 (Dec 18)

i did my last training run today. wooooohoooooo! i accomplished something huge! when you met me, did you think i could ever run for a 30 minute stretch? me neither.

Dec 20- Charity 5K at Clear Creek

Here we go!

Dec 28- Sporty Diva 2.8 run around Green Lake in Seattle

This was my first official run. 

  

I finished!!

jan 28 run (4.98 miles)

it's ok. I was trying a bunch of different things today. like running faster, and going left or right, more leaning. I'm not totally sure what the right thing to do is. I tried to run fast towards the end. Just to see if i could. It was pretty cool for about 15 seconds, then back to an easy jog. I feel like that helped my knee a little. So I'll have to evaluate how i hold my body then and see if I can apply it to my jogging. We'll see.

feb 4 run  (6.3 miles)

i feel good. so proud of my body! my knee was good for most of it. about 7k i could feel it getting a little painful. It wasn't terrible, but I will work on strengthening it more. Mom just showed me a exercise she does for her knees so maybe it will help.

Feb 15 run (3.78 miles) 

This was my last run with Maisy. It was bittersweet. 

feb 18 run (4.7 miles)

This was a good run, but it was kind of boring running around a track for that long. I would have preferred to run at clear creek, but I had a time crunch. It worked out well. Good times. 

March 14- St. Patty's Run (10K)

Jon started training for a 5K and was ready just before this race. It was so fun to go to an event with him. One of my friends ran the 5K too. We found her afterwards and it was just great! The race itself was hard, but fun. The energy of the crowd was pretty cool. It was raining at the beginning, but it stopped about a third of the way through. 

We've got this!

Jon finished before me and met me at the finish. That was so great!

Since it was for St Patty's, I had to enjoy a refreshing drink of water from my flask. :)

This might be as far as I run. I'm not totally sure yet. It has been a really empowering experience. I'm glad that I did it. I hope that I can keep being active because it has been a positive change in my life. I CAN do hard things.