C25K - Prelude

I started the couch to 5K program this morning. I was inspired to do it after reading my friend Jan's note on Facebook about how she completed the program. Jan writes, "Every week, I thought to myself that I wouldn't be able to finish this week's scheduled intervals, and then every week I did it anyway." I want to feel that sense of accomplishment. I've gotten lazy. Not just physically lazy, but mentally & emotionally lazy as well. When I see people who I haven't seen in years and they ask, "What's new?" I say, "Nothing." Then, realizing that's a lame answer, I desperately try to think of a better answer, but besides, "We got a dog", there is nothing else for me to say! That's just one reason that I'm excited to do this. Here are some more:

1. I used to run, and I miss it. More accurately, I miss being able to do it. No, I take that back. I miss running! I miss going to road races and seeing familiar faces, and picking out a filly from the masses and mentally deciding that SHE is one I'm going to beat.
2. I want to be able to participate in conversations about running. A few weeks ago at work, I found myself in the middle of a conversation with 2 other people who were talking about running. They were both fit & healthy people, and even though the girl was bemoaning about how she was so slow, it was still a conversation that seemed out of my league. If I had any confidence, I could have chimed in, but I didn't dare speak up. The way I saw it, I was either going to embarrass myself by being a fat, out of shape person talking about running, or by being a fat, out of shape person talking about how she used to run. Either way, I'm a loser.
3. I like pizza. I'm not gonna lie; being able to consume more calories without guilt holds a lot of appeal. I realize that this habit, combined with the lack of running, caused me to gain 80+ pounds after my last marathon 6 years ago, but THIS TIME I'll be more conscious of what I'm doing.
4. I enjoy exercising for free. I'm a strong believer that gyms are unnecessary. Fifty years ago, no one went to the gym. They walked to work, carried their groceries, shut their own car doors, went into stores to go shopping instead of clicking a mouse, etc. I'll still keep my $10/month Planet Fitness membership, because let's face it, that's so cheap it's not even worth the phone call to cancel it. But no more $40/hour personal training sessions or joining expensive gyms because then I'll feel guilty if I don't go (no, I won't).

I'm sure as the next few weeks progress, I'll have more reasons for wanting to run, and probably even more reasons for NOT wanting to run, but I'll post them all here. I'm not going to romanticize any of this. If it sucks, I'll say it sucks. If I get weepy with emotion because I constantly hear the Chariots of Fire theme song playing in my head, you better believe I'll post all about it. Mostly this blog is my motivator to keep me on track for the next 9 weeks. I promise at least as many entries as training runs for the week, which is 3 entries a week. All of a sudden, I just doubled the amount of pressure I'm under. Oh well, here's to hoping it works!