1 year update

It's almost been a year since I started my C25K journey. I ran a 5K race yesterday, my 5th since completing the C25K program, and it felt wonderful! My time was 32:41, a 10:31 pace. I'm happy with that. More than happy. I'm thrilled!

The best part about the run was that it just felt natural. I didn't have to play any mind games with myself, and I didn't need Journey or Snoop Dogg on my ipod to keep me going. I don't know if it's because the course was so familiar to me (Lake Quannipowitt in Wakefield, MA), or if it's because I did a 5 mile a few weeks ago which made the 5K seem easy, or if it's because I ate the right breakfast at the right time and the temperature was just right, etc. I don't really care WHY I had a great run, I'm just glad that I did. This is where I wanted to get to. I want to always be able to run 5K, and bonus if my pace is in the 10's.

I didn't have a great picture from the finish, but this is something.



Now, who's ready for a half marathon?

5K Done!

I've been procrastinating writing this last entry in my blog because I was hoping for it to be some monumental, victorious, over-the-top statement of achievement. But, uh... nope. I finished the 5K. Actually, two of them. I'm doing another one on New Year's Day. Big whoop.

Ok, ok, that might be a little smug. In all honesty, I was completely thrilled when I finished the 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I was even more thrilled when I looked at my race results and saw that I ran a 12:35 pace. (Official chip time: 39:05) If you've been reading this blog, you know that my initial runs were around a 15:00 pace with the walking intervals, but even my running pace starting with the dreaded W5D3 was still in the 14:00's. I think I dipped into the 13:00's twice. I know that I've said that time doesn't matter, but that's just something slow people say. Haha, I'm such a bitch.

Anyhow, as promised, here is a picture from this year's Feaster Five, next to last year's. I'm about 30 pounds lighter than last year's photo, and hopefully next year I'll be 30 pounds lighter than this year's photo.



Thanks to the people who followed this blog and offered encouragement along the way. Running can be a very isolating sport, so I really appreciate everyone's support and interest. I look forward to following your progress in your blogs and in the C25K community. To end with a quote from one of my favorite running songs from my C25K journey: Don't Stop Believing!

Week 8: You know who's back up in this mother f**ker?

Compton, Long Beach, Englewoooood! Another awesome run inspired by the songs on my ipod. Today's credit goes to the D-O-double-G and the mother f**king D-R-E (Dr. Dre, mother f**ker!)

I think I left off on Week 8, Day 1 like 2 months ago or something like that. I haven't been running or even walking in all of this time, but I have lost about 25 pounds, and apparently I've turned into a wigger. Wow, I haven't used that word since 8th grade. But I digress.... Today I drove to Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield which is a flat 3 mile loop. I finished the whole thing with NO WALKING and with a time of 40:29 (13:30 pace).

I don't know if I will finish the C25K as written, but I feel like if I can run 3 miles non-stop, then mission accomplished. I do have 2 5K's coming up: one on Thanksgiving morning and another on December 5th. If I happen to run anytime between now & then, I'll blog about it, but if not, I feel no shame. I'll post a full race report for the Thanksgiving race, hopefully with photos. Here's the finish line photo from last year. My time was 49:47, a 16:02 pace (and I feel like I ran most of it.)

Random post for a random run

I ran 2 days ago, and am finally getting around to posting about it. The run wasn't long enough in time or distance to be considered a week 8 run so I don't feel it appropriate to put it in that category, but I'm still going to blog about it just so you know I'm not sitting on the couch watching tv and eating cheetos.

Picture it: Saturday morning, North Reading, MA. I put my 5K mix and the whole New Kids on the Block "The Block" CD on my ipod shuffle. I really don't like the 2 mile out-and-back route that I do (perhaps you've heard me complain about it...) so I decided to do the old standby 1.6 mile loop. I ran the whole thing without stopping, and I finished in just under 21 minutes. It felt good to know I haven't regressed in my training to pre-W5D3 ability. It also felt good to realize that I just ran a 13:07 pace. That's about a minute off of my pace from my last run. Pretty good for slacking off for 3 weeks, eh?

I really need to finish the last 2 weeks of this C25K program. The annoying thing is that one of my co-workers wants to start the C25K program and because I'm not good at saying no to things I don't want to do, I somehow agreed to run with her 3 days per week. What? I don't have time to do my own workouts 3 days per week, and now I'm going to start over at week 1? Plus, she wants to run after work which is miserable, and she's rearranging her schedule to do it, so now I really feel obligated to do it with her. I had a dream last night that she had a doctor's appointment and told me that she'd be unable to run with me. Of all the dreams that I could wish would come true, I'm actually hoping it's this one.

Week 8, Day 1: So much for muscle memory

I finally made it to Horn Pond tonight, a day late, after being a week late. I got out of work late, made it to the Pond by 5:08, and had to make a phone call at exactly 5:45pm, so I knew I only had 37 minutes to complete the run. My run was only supposed to be 28 minutes, but knowing I only had 37 minutes eliminated the possibility that I would scrap the run and turn it into a leisurely walk. I thought the pond was 2 miles around, but I tracked it on the USATF site and it's only 1.92. It took me 29:39 to complete the loop. I'm not going to lie, I walked a lot. I told myself not to take my first walk break until 10 minutes in, which I did, but then the walk breaks were about every 2-3 minutes until I finished. I know in one of my previous posts I vowed to finish the program as written and without walk breaks, but I'm still counting this run at W8D1. If I don't, I'll never finish the program and I'll give up before running a 5K.

The tricky thing for me to do is to keep running 3 days per week. Daylight is shrinking and I feel like my schedule is getting busier. Those of you who me in real life will be shocked to know that I haven't watched any fall TV this year, so it's not even like I can cut useless TV watching from my schedule to find more time. (Ok! I lied again! I LOVE GLEE! But that's the only show I watch. Honest.)

Emily, Jane, and Michelle - who's up for a nice & easy 15:00/mile run on Saturday or Sunday?

Week Huh? Day What?

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last ran. Although after the run I just had, maybe I can believe it. Week 8, where I should be, is 2.75 miles or 28 minutes. I planned to do my 2 mile loop, which had previously taken me 28 minutes. I included the 5 minute warm-up walk in that 2 miles, and then figured I'd add on distance at the end if I needed to meet the time. Buuuuut, I ended up walking about 20 minutes into the run, and then never got back into the groove. I walked a lot on the return home. My total time for 2 miles was 33:51. I obviously can't count this run for week 8, so I'll have to try again this week. I think I'll try running Horn Pond after work one night, because it's too dark in the morning and this 2 mile course is too damn hilly. Tomorrow night, I'll run Horn Pond tomorrow night. Thanks, Blog!

Week 7, Day 3: Ok, I get it, NO WALKING!

After my last run, I got some feedback about the walk break debate, and the general consensus is that I need to be doing the program as written, which is to say no walk breaks. So, to prove to myself and others that I can do this, I went out today and ran for 25 minutes with no walking. So there.

I went back to my old, original route today. While I like the exactness of the 2 mile route I'd been doing lately, it's much more hilly, which I think was contributing to my need for walk breaks. It was also taking me 28+ minutes to complete that loop, while the W7 workouts only call for 25 minutes. I feel like I've been in a state of indecision about the time vs. distance dilemma for too long, so I'm putting my foot down and making a declaration.

I, Effie of effieruns.blogspot.com, will from here on out, finish the C25K program based on TIME, not DISTANCE. I will also RUN, not WALK the entire time. After week 9, when I'm done with the program as written, I will continue to increase my distance up to the 5K distance, or I will be bold and just sign up for a 5K and see what happens. This declaration is starting to sound wishy washy. I declare an end to this declaration.

I think I need to run a 5K before Halloween. It's getting really dark out in the morning. I might not even be able to finish C25K outside, unless I want to either run in the dark, or be late for work. I looked up 5K races again, and found this one, http://www.allandmorrison5k.com/index.htm which takes place about a week and a half after I finish the C25K program. Pros: It's close to my home, and it's advertised as a run/walk. Cons: It looks like a first annual, which may mean poor turnout and/or poor organization. I also found this one on the next day: http://www.theprofessionalcenter.org/Trot%20for%20Tots%2009%20entry%20form%20laplume.pdf which is even CLOSER to my house and it's advertised as a flat course. I like flat. My decision could all come down to who plucks at my heart strings more: an old guy with dementia, or developmentally disabled children. Hrmmm... tough call. Is it rude to choose based on who has better post-race food?