Running around

With the encouragement of my coach – Kris – I’ve taken up running. Last weekend I did my first 5K.

Well, my first 5K in a long time. I ran one once before in 2002, but then I kind of gave up after that.

Kris and I started run-walking in September. She steadily increased my running/decreased my walking until I was eventually running a full 30 minutes. Then we started running a full 5K in anticipation of me running a race – the annual Alplaus Run-Around.

The good news is I ran a time that, while not setting the world on fire, was pretty good for me. I only did a full 5K with a Kris a couple of times before the race. Both times it took me about 40 minutes. But when I ran the race I improved to 38:04.

The bad news is I came in dead last – except for Kris, but she doesn’t count because she purposely held back to take my picture. For a while I was pretty grumpy about placing last, but eventually got over it. After all, my time was good for me and it was a small race. There were only about 30 runners and most of them were die hards.

Although I’m trying to get better, I tend to complain a lot while I’m running. I don’t really enjoy the act of running itself. But I do like the way I feel afterward. So I’m not giving up. I’ll keep plugging away at it and I think I will tackle another race one of these days.

40 days

It's Day 1 of Lent and I'm already being tested.

I've decided to give up eating extra food at work. I did this two years ago and it was hard. There is always something at work...someone will order a pizza for everyone, candy jars are on people's desks, somebody might bring in cookies and of course there is always the food from the cooking segments on the noon news. And I eat all of it!

Yesterday, in honor of Fat Tuesday, I pigged out on two slices from a pizza someone brought in.

But today is a new day. And sure enough, I walked in the door this morning only to be greeeted by the sight of bagels, cream cheese and doughnuts. Oh, the tempatation!

When I did this before I swear I lost at least five pounds. So I did the weigh-in this morning. I checked in at 170 lbs. We'll see how that stands on Easter.

I haven't been below 170 in years. I couldn't tell you how long it's been. But I'm optimistic. Besides giving up extra food at work for Lent (I'll still eat my lunch), we rejoined the YMCA yesterday and once the weather gets warm I'll start training for this year's Tour de Cure. So there's a good chance I could be in the 160s some day. Cross your fingers.

Party City

So we had an eventful weekend. On Friday, my mom and dad came to visit. The kids were really excited and we went to Applebee's for supper. They have a cool program where if you read 10 books you get a free kid's meal. So that's what Nolan did and he ate every bit. Thomas didn't and left the restaurant screaming because he wanted dessert. So he got ice cream at Gaba's (other grandma) on the way home.

On Saturday we had some errands to do, but in the afternoon my Aunt Helen, Uncle Rush and family came to visit on their way to Silver Lake from New Jersey. Then that night Gaba came over and we had a barbecue in the backyard thanks to steaks from Dad again.

My parents saw the Giants practicing Sunday morning and stopped by on their way home. We went grocery shopping to get ready for another barbecue that night with friends and their kids. That was fun. But we are partied out. We were lucky the weather was beautiful.

In other news, I'm not at all looking forward to fall and school starting. It's been so nice doing fun things and no schedule. As soon as school starts the rat race begins again.

Also, I might be changing my tune with switching from running to walking. I still love walking and don't want to give it up, but I miss running too and the friends I was running with. I think I may find a way to fit in both.

So this weekend we are going to Cooperstown to stay with my sister in her RV. We've never camped that way and I'm anxious to see what it will be like.

Change of Pace

I recently switched from running to walking. It has been a great transition for me but different. I have run for 5 years and even did a marathon 2 years ago. But I stopped getting as much satisfaction from running and it felt like a chore whenever I went out. After all this time running. my body changed a lot in the beginning but over the past couple years it's remained about the same. I figure I just keep exercising the same muscles with running and maybe I should try something new. Lastly, I never really felt like I fit in with the running group I was a part of and wanted more time for myself. So my slow paced running converted to walking and it has been great. I mainly go alone and I like the peace of that. I tend to have a lot of thoughts and I get to clear my head that way. The rhythm of walking is very relaxing. I still do the same miles so it just takes me longer now. I even go 5 days a week instead of 4 now. There are a few friends that I walk with sometimes. Marlene and I walk on Wednesdays and it's great to have time to talk without our kids around. The only bad thing is some friends that I used to run with I don't really get to see much anymore. And I notice I have to watch what I eat a little more because I don't think walking keeps the pounds away as well as running. But ultimately, I think we have to be healthy and happy with ourselves and what we do. Don't you agree?