Am I crazy??
I am a 47-year-old woman with little to no experience with running.
I mean, I ran as a kid. And I chased after my kids when they were little.
But running for the fun of it?
Nah.
But yet, here I am, beginning a program designed to get me to run a 5K in 9 weeks. And enjoying it. So far.
I did my very first 5K last December, at a race organized by a group of runners at the high school my kids attend. The organizer was the driving force behind the Weight Watchers-at-Work program that I joined last October at the high school. (As a full-time substitute at the middle school next door, they kindly allowed me to join.) I slowly walked the 5K in a grand 1 hour and 5 minutes, and was sore for 3 days afterwards. I thought I would die.
But gradually, as the weight came off, the strength increased, and I did an unofficial 5K on the treadmill on June 6th, 2010, in honor of 5K Day for Weight Watchers. That one took me about 52 minutes. Not too bad, considering it was mostly walked.
I've done 2 official 5Ks since then...one on September 8th to benefit the county Humane Society. Here is a picture of my son and me in our T-shirts.
Yesterday I did one for Breast Cancer Awareness from our local hospital. A personal best on time: 46:33. That was with a little jogging, but not much.
So today was my first day on the program. I went to the gym and did Week 1, Day 1 on the treadmill.
I did 5 minutes of brisk walking (3.6 MPH, which for me is brisk), followed by intervals of 60 seconds running (jogging, in my case, at 4.5MPH), and 90 seconds of walking. I finished with 5 minutes walking to cool down.
30 minutes on the treadmill. 189 calories burned. 1.89 miles travelled. Top heart rate reached: 152.
Not too shabby for a first day.
Then I followed with a half-hour of upper-body weight machines.
I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow.
Week 1, Day 2 will be Tuesday or Wednesday. Here's hoping.
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