My Journey from the Couch to a 5K

Here is my leg–day two after the dog bite.   Pretty nasty, huh?  I saw my doctor today and got a tetanus shot today.  I also was started on Augmentin for 10 days just as a precaution against infection.  It’s tender but not too terribly painful.  I had a patient’s dog nip at my feet today and it scared me so bad I almost cried! 

I’m going out walking/running again tomorrow but I will be heading back to my beloved and SAFE park! 

I decided to start week one over again today and instead of going to the park, I stayed in my own neighborhood.  Bad idea.  Totally a BAD idea. 

I was finishing up my walk and was 2 blocks from home when I saw my neighbor out trying to catch her dog.  There was a police officer present as well.  Her dog starting running toward me.  Now mind you, I had my mp3 player in one hand and a bunch of trash in the other hand (I was being a good citizen and tried to pick up some trash during my walk!) and she yelled at me to catch her dog.  Now I know this dog and how mean he can be so I thought that I would just try to talk to him and maybe be able to pet him until she could get to him but he had other ideas.

He bit at my foot and didn’t get ahold of anything so he lunged at me again and got a good bite right on my left calf!  It hurt so bad!  I threw the trash I was holding on top of him hoping that he would go away and by that time she and the cop had caught up with me.  I hobbled home and then the police officer came and got all my information for his report.  He said he had been out trying to catch the dog for over an hour.  Apparently this isn’t the first incident with that dog either.  I won’t go into anymore details.  The cop said he was going to call me back and let me know what they are going to do.  

What a day!  So here is a photo of my leg.  It’s been bleeding off and on but I don’t think I need stitches.  Luckily I am a home health nurse and I have an arsenal of wound care supplies in my car.  I’m just going to keep and eye on it and hopefully it will be okay.  This photo was right after I got home.  It is pretty swollen and bruised this afternoon so I think I’m going to go ice it down. 

I won’t gross you all out with the upclose photo of it!

Now about my run today.  It was tough.  My mp3 player’s batteries went dead after the second run so I had to keep track on my watch.  I did all but the last run.  I don’t know why it seems to be getting harder instead of easier.  I am going to do week one again this week and hopefully by next weekend I can move up to week two!  I think that I have been so stressed lately that my heart and mind just haven’t been into it.  I knew when I started that it may take me longer than 9 weeks to do it.  I mean, we’re talking someone who is completely sedentary wanting to run over 3 miles straight!  So it may take awhile but I have until October!   

Today was a bad day.  I don’t know what my problem was.  Well, I have a few ideas.  I got up later than I planned (I slept in until 8:30).  I headed to the park but didn’t take time to grab a quick snack (no protein=no energy).  And my mind was on about 30 other things that I need to do today.  When I got to the park, it was Little League day.  So I didn’t get to go on my usual walk because I wasn’t able to park and start in my usual place.  So I was just “off” all around. 

I made it through the first 2 runs.  Then I had to take a breather before the third one.  Then I took another break before the fourth one.  Then I just gave up altogether.  So I got back home and went on a 20 minute bike ride and that seemed to help clear my mind a little bit.  I am going out again tomorrow and will start Week One over again.  I just don’t feel ready to go on to week 2 yet.  I am going to try a new route and will be running on pavement instead and I am hoping that will help.  We live in the mountains so the trail I have been running on is pretty “hilly”. 

Something else I am going to try to start–don’t laugh.  Aaron has already laughed and gagged enough the last few days when I have talked about it.  I am going to try to start drinking green smoothies. 

 I already love smoothies.  The only addition to the smoothies that I make is that I will be adding greens.  Yes, you read that right.  Spinach, collards, etc. is added to the smoothie to boost the nutrient intake.  There are plenty of sites all about green smoothies.  You can read about it at Green Smoothie Girl.  My new favorite blogger, Sara, talks about it on her blog as well at Walk Slowly Live Wildly.  I’ll let you all know how it goes!  My latest new smoothie consisted of frozen blueberries, bananas, vanilla soy milk and vanilla yogurt.  It was very good and my 2 year old even liked it! 

This is gonna get easier, right?  I mean I know it’s not suppose to be a walk in the park–well, I guess actually it is a walk in the park.  Let me use another metaphor.  It’s not suppose to be a peice of cake (yum, cake) but I’d think it would be getting slightly easier by now! 

I was able to make it through the first three runs with no problem.  The fourth one I had to skip 1/2 of it because my neck was throbbing and hurting.  Then I missed the last 5 seconds of the last run because I thought I was going to die. 

So overall I CAN see improvement.  I am not discouraged I just wish my neck didn’t throb so badly.  I guess my heart is in shock because it is much more comfortable sitting on the couch getting a steady flow of cholesterol through it!  The track I run on is 1.4 miles in length.  So a 5K is a little over 2 times around that track.  It seems like a very daunting task at this time but slow and steady (and I am slow!) wins the race, right?! 

And on a really HAPPY note . . . I have lost 10 pounds!  Yipppeee!  I started Spark People one month ago and have already dropped 10 pounds!  My second goal has been reached and it’s even two weeks earlier than planned. 

So I am going to repeat another day of my first week on Friday and then start on Week 2 on Sunday.  

Adios muchachos and muchachas.  Be back on Friday!

Just had to quickly post this a.m. to say that I am not sore!  I could hardly move last Friday after my first day running so I made sure I did lots of stretching yesterday before walking and I am feeling really good this morning! 

I guess maybe my body is getting used to this new way of life!  I hope to be down 10 pounds by Memorial Day–I have 1.4 more pounds to go to reach my goal! 

I just got back from my second ‘run’ and wanted to get a quick blog post in before church.

First of all, the park was wonderful this morning.  There was no one there!  It was a little creepy at first being there all alone!  By the time I was finishing up another lady was there walking her dogs and another car pulled in as I was leaving.  So it looks like Sunday mornings are a great time to go and be alone there! 

I have to admit, it was not has hard today as it was Thursday.  I was able to make it through all the runs (I stopped about 5 seconds early on the last one)! My neck still throbbed but it was later in the session–like during my last run instead of after the 3rd or 4th one like it was on Thursday.  I concentrated on my breathing today.  In between runs I slowed down a good bit and took nice long, deep breaths.  That really seemed to help.  And when I got back to my car I didn’t feel like I was dying!  No shaking today!

Another thing that helped is I bought new shoes yesterday.  I found them on sale at Kohl’s.  They are Avia Style # 6628 and are specifically for trail running.  And they feel so good on my feet!  And they don’t look too bad either! 

My only big (no pun intended!) problem today were my boobs!  I can not find a good supportive sports bra.  I got a new one at Kohl’s yesterday and I should have tried it on and jumped around a little bit in it but I didn’t.   Maybe next time I’ll double up on my sports bras and see if that will hold the girls in!  And while I’m on the subject, do clothes manufacturer’s not think that fat people work out?  I have the hardest time finding work out clothes to fit my ample figure!  When I do find something in my size it is normally too tight in the chest.  I did find one cute layered top at Kohl’s yesterday.  It has a tank underneath and is actually long enough (my other problem is my long waist–clothes tend to cut me off at the waist!). 

I thought I’d throw a recipe in here.  I have developed a fondness for smoothies!  I have made Strawberry-Banana, Pineapple-Strawberry and now today, Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana.  It is delicious!  Here is my homemade recipe:

8 ounces Vanilla Soy Milk (you could use fat free milk too)
2 TBSP vanilla yogurt
1 TBSP creamy peanut butter
1 TSP chocolate syrup
1 medium banana
1/2 cup ice

Blend it all up and enjoy!  It really is good!

Total motivation here.  Watch it!  Seriously . . . WATCH IT!

Week One consists of a 5 minute brisk walk, followed by 20 minutes of alternating between 60 seconds of jogging, and 90 seconds of walking.  After 20 minutes, you walk for another 5 minutes and then you’re done!  Repeat this 3 days this week, allowing at least a day of rest in between each training session.

Whew.  Day One was a killer.  I decided to go to the local park and run on the track.  The Little League was practicing and my first thought was, “Get back in your car.  Turn around.  Go home.  No one wants to see your big butt running around this track.”  But I ignored that little annoying voice.  I put my mp3 player on and took off down the trail.  It’s a nice open trail.  I am not sure how long it is but I would guess probably a little over a mile long and it goes back into the woods. 

I walked 5 minutes and kept looking at my watch waiting for the bell on my mp3 player to ring and tell me that it was time to start jogging.  (My dear, dear hubby took some of my favorite ‘work out’ songs and added sound effects to it so that I would know when to run and when to walk.  ”Run” is a bell ringing and “Walk” is a buzzer.)  The bell rang just as I was going up an incline in the road.  So I took off.  The first minute flew by and before I knew it, it was time to walk again.

I repeated that 3 times.  By the time the fourth run came around, my chest was burning.  My neck was throbbing like crazy and I just physically could not do the fourth run.  I completed almost all of the rest of the runs although I had to quit half way through the last one. 

I completed the 5 minute cool down walk and returned to my van.  My legs were weak and I was literally shaky.  I thought to myself, geez, am I really this out of shape?  Umm . . . yes.  That answer is yes.   

I know it will get easier.  But boy, that was tough!  Today my thighs are heavy and my ankles are really sore (I blame that on my shoes) but I sure did sleep well last night!  So this weekend I plan to invest in some new shoes that are for running and running only.  My sis-in-law gave me some pointers on finding new shoes.  I plan to go out again tomorrow.  My training days are going to be Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday. 

And my first week’s playlist, if you are interested, included:

Don’t Lie—Black Eyed Peas
Fergalicious—Fergie
London Bridge—Fergie
Let Me Blow Your Mind—Eve featuring Gwen Stefani
Stronger—Kanye West
The Thanks I Get—Wilco  

Not typically ‘my style’ of music (except for Wilco!) but the fast pace of the songs was perfect. 

Happy Running!    

I know what you all are thinking.  At least those of you who know me.  You’re thinking, “Yeah, right.  There is no way she is ever going to complete a 5K!”  And I understand your disbelief.  Really, I do.   A month ago if you had asked me to go for a run I’d have said I’d rather go to the gynecologist, clean all the restrooms at Walmart and bathe the dog than to actually go out running.  Ugh.  Running.  In years past I’ve seen people running in the rain, in the torrid summer heat, and while on vacation.  And I’ve thought to myself, ‘they must be insane!’.  I mean, come on!  Who goes out running on vacation?  Certainly not me and my big behind. 

But something happened a month ago.  I found SparkPeople.  If you are not familiar with it, it is a weight loss site–well, a community rather.  Thousands and thousands of people who are trying, and are succeeding, at losing weight!  I was doubtful at first.  Skeptical that it would really work for me.  How many times have I been on a ‘diet’ before?  I’ve gained and lost an entire person by now.  I’ve tried Weight Watchers many times and then gained the weight back.   After joining Spark People, I realized that there were three reasons that I have never succeeded at weight loss. 

Number one–I have never had a good support system.  Even when I was going to WW meetings, I never really felt like I ‘fit in’.  I was usually much younger than the general population in those meeting rooms and I also just never clicked with the leader.  I even tried changing meetings and guess what?  It was the same leader.  Number two–I never made the commitment to make a lifetime/lifelong change in my habits.  I would lose the weight and then go right back to my old unhealthy ways.  And number three–I never made exercise a priority.  I would try video aerobics for awhile but I always hated it with a passion.  I’d force myself to do it, then get totally burned out after a couple of weeks.  I hate aerobics!  I convinced myself that I was too out of shape to do any other exercise and I was embarrassed that people might see me if I did any other activity outside of my home.  Heaven forbid if someone see me exercising!  (One reason I stopped going to the health club–I couldn’t stand people looking at me!)   

So anyway, back to the story.  I found SparkPeople, joined a ’team’ (the Done Being the Fat Girl team) and found the most amazing support there!  It is awesome!  Other people just like me who have struggled with their weight but are now losing it!  We are all so DONE.  I am DONE being a sedentary being.  DONE filling my body with junk food.  DONE depleting my bones of calcium by downing soda after soda.  DONE being fat! 

In my quest to change my life FOR GOOD this time I have begun exercising.  However, there will be NO aerobics for me this time.  Sorry Richard Simmons and Bob Harper (I love ya Bob, but I just can’t do it!).  I have to find cardio that I am going to enjoy and that I will be able to keep up for the rest of my life.  So one thing I have been doing is bike riding.  Our family of four all got new bikes (and a trailer for my 2 year old) and we have all started riding.  I love it.  Now I am not a speed racer, in fact my bike is just an old fashioned bike with regular old brakes.  But we are all getting exercise by riding several times a week.

Last week I decided to step it up another notch.  I had heard about Couch to 5K awhile back but I just never thought I could do it.  But I have decided to give it a try.  It is a program to help completely sedentary people, like yours truly, become 5K’ers in 9 weeks time.  So I am going to give it a shot.  It may take me longer than 9 weeks.  I expect there will be times when I will have to repeat some weeks.  But I have my eyes focused on a goal.  To complete a 5K by October.  There is even a 5K in Harrisonburg that month so I have a definitive goal to look forward to.  (My sis-in-law is a runner and will hopefully be able to come home to Virginia and run with me–I’m looking forward to that too!)   

I’m gonna do this.  I am a DONE GIRL and I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it.  So join me on my journey.  I will be posting every day that I ‘train’.  Hopefully it will get easier and you will see progress as I go.  Heck, I may even post some photos once in awhile so you can see my progress for yourselves!  I will also be posting tips in case you are interested in starting the program as well.  A great site to start at for info is the Couch 2 5k site.

So here we go.  I’m gonna go post about Day Numero Uno!