Off The Couch

Sometime around May, I found a rare nugget of motivation and decided that enough was enough... I was going to get some exercise. I had come across a running program called "Couch to 5k" and it looked like just the thing for me.  The last couple summers, I've dabbled in jogging, but I never got that far, because I lacked a real goal, or direction... and it was really, really hard.  But this program starts you off with only 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking in between, for a total of 20 minutes.  I totally can do that.

And I did.

The program is supposed to last 9 weeks.  It actually took me 11 weeks, because I had to redo some of the later days.  But I don't mind, because I miraculously stuck with it, and now I'm able to run for 5 km no problem, just under 40 minutes.  It's not blazingly fast, and people running with strollers are going faster than me, but the speed will come on it's own time.

By product of all this is that over the summer, I've dropped almost 20 pounds. Now this is due not only to the exercise, but I've also been eating a bit smarter.  Not Weight Watchers or anything.  Just less fast food (much less), cut out a lot of pop, and chips are the devil.  Also, to be fair, my weight was really out of control and the most it had ever been, even more than when I started WW both of the last 2 times.

Today I ran my fastest time for 5k (36:35) and ran my farthest run (7.25 km in 53:27). I think the cooler weather helps.