Three Day Weekend.... At Last!!!

Today is cold and dreary, but I welcome the change from yesterday's high heat and humidity. I'm definitely ready for cooler weather. It makes me want to cook in the crockpot and curl up on the couch with a good book. We have no big plans for the weekend, so that may be exactly what I do.

I turned 40 back in May and I must admit this particular birthday kind of slapped me around a bit. I really didn't expect it to bother me as it did, but a few things that came along with the magic number kind of got me down a bit. Bifocals. Yep, my arms aren't getting any longer, so I now have bifocals. Extra poundage. Around the middle. I've always been very active and dieting is something I've never, ever done. If my clothes got a little tight, I might cut back on a snack or two, but I've never actually been on a diet. I've typically always weighted five to seven pounds less in the summer than the winter, simply because I am the pool girl, lawn girl, fixer-upper gal, and gardener extraordinaire at the Everett household. And I like it that way. However, this summer, no matter how much I did, I never lost my five to seven pounds. In fact, I gained. I'm not eating more, or any different. I just gained weight. I hear it's the dreaded "metabolism" slow-down. Darn it.

I don't like to work out in a gym. I'd rather weed a flower bed, or haul rocks than step on a treadmill or elliptical machine. It bores me out of my mind. I like the great outdoors, so I've sought an activity to get myself in better shape that does not confine me to a gym. That's when I discovered the Couch to 5K running program.

To be honest, I hate running. I played basketball in high school, and it was mandatory that you run track in the spring for basketball in the fall. I hated every stinking minute of it. In college I ran some just when I felt sick. I had a habit of bundling up very tight on a cold west Texas day and running until I "sweated the poisons out" of whatever crud I had. I still hated it. In the past 20-plus years, I have not run on purpose at all. Until seven weeks ago when I began the Couch to 5K program.....

The C25K program is designed to get you off the couch and running a 5K in nine weeks. It is a run/walk program that helps you build your endurance over time. I am notorious for starting something, pushing myself way to hard and quiting because I either injured myself or made myself so sore I couldn't even brush my teeth.

the first week of C25K after a five minute warm-up you jog 60 seconds and walk 90 seconds for a 20 minute duration. Each week you build on that. today after a five minute warm-up I ran for 25 minutes without stopping. I would have never believed this would be possible. The best part of it is that I feel good. I feel accomplished. I feel healthier.

I'm doing this program with a friend and it has helped to have an accountability partner. We run in our city park three mornings a week and I'm mostly inspired by a really old man that runs every morning. He is in such great shape and he laps us like we're sitting still. I want to be an old lady running like that someday. I might even wear shorts as short as his....

The weight??? Well, I've actually gained more, but my husband tells me muscle weighs more than fat.... I've lost an inch in my hips, thighs, and gained a half-inch in my calves. Couch to 5K... it's a great plan.

Our goal for now is to run in a local 5k this spring. With the rate we're going, it might happen sooner!!!! Do I love running? Well, not yet, but for the first time in my life, I don't hate it, and once I'm on that trail, I really, really like it!