About two and a half years ago (wait, timeout, I just realized I’ve been blogging under The Modern Gal nom de plume for three years and some change now, holy moly).
Let’s start over, about two and a half years ago I did a 5k beginning runners program in an effort to get more active and lose some weight and blogged about the whole thing. It made me love running, and it was sort of the jumping off point for me getting into sprint triathlons.
Well, over the past year I got to where I completely hated running, and it’s no surprise why either. I slacked off on any sort of regular routine and got woefully out of shape. Whenever I could convince myself to put on my running shoes, I’d push myself to try and run the 2 or 3 miles I was capable of two years ago and would get frustrated and angry when I could barely run 2 or 3 minutes before needing to stop and catch my breath. Meanwhile I’ve gained like 10 pounds back of what I lost two years ago.
I finally admitted to myself that my body needed to be properly reacquainted with running and started the couch to 5k program anew three weeks ago, just in time for the temperatures to start dropping. That’s a good thing in my book as I tend to run harder when it’s colder. So far it’s going swimmingly. I’ve really not struggled with it yet and am actually starting to get excited to put my running shoes on. In keeping with this post, I’ve been listening to Christmas music the whole time. (If you need to run faster, just listen to ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ by Mariah Carey and mission accomplished.)
I’ve set the goal of being able to run 3 miles again by the beginning of January and have added a few Nike Plus challenges to keep my interest level up. But just for overkill and extra motivation through shame in potential failure, I’m going to state another new goal right here: I shall either run an 8-10k or have my best sprint triathlon finish before the arbitrarily chosen deadline of The Modern Love Machine and my June wedding date. (I’m not one of these brides hung up on losing weight before the wedding, I just want to be healthy when it gets here.) I know, a long way off, but that gives me some long-term motivation. I haven’t decided which one I’m going to focus on, but both will require some training. I’ll let you know which I decide on in January or February.
Or ya know the half marathon in Nashville. 🙂 I can try ha
I don’t know, that might break my no-half-of-full-marathoning rule. I’ll consider though.
Woot!
I’ve tried to take up running a few times, but I could never push past the pain and get to the point where I could just run for several miles. Good for you for recommitting yourself!
your first paragraph is SO something i just realized this week.
i’m about to hit 3 years!
we are old bloggers, fyi.
Blog years do feel like dog years.
Congratulations on the recommittment. I’m loving the cold weather as well. The first time it got down in the 50s this season and I went for a run I felt like Superman. Running in the summer just takes so much out of you. That’s why I pretty much took the summer off (that and injury). But like you I’ve recently recommitted, more or less. Keep it up!
I realized this morning I’m a huge wuss… I bundled up and headed out to run, but got barely a 1/2 mile and turned around and headed home. It was that cold wind that makes it hard to breath. I realized that until Spring I’ll run on the treadmill (or the occasional evening), but that the AM run is done for the next few months.