Knocking out a 5K

I joke with people that I won't run for a bus but here I am trying to knock out distances that are greater than a city block.

In the months before my wedding, I was seeing a personal trainer and during one of our sessions, she had me do a few sprints on the treadmill. I think the last time I was actually "forced" to run (besides trying to catch a train or a bus) was when I was a freshman in college & needed to run for ROTC.

Fortunately, I walked a lot through the years so the concept of going a certain distance wasn't foreign to me but doing it "double time" just wasn't happening.

I realized that incorporating running into my fitness regime was a quick way to burn calories in a short period of time but it is hard as hell.

I found a few "couch to 5K" programs and took numerous stabs at getting started in recent years but I would burn myself out and quit after a few weeks.

Last year, I found this program and I will admit that life has gotten in the way causing my to take more than the suggested 9 weeks to finish. I am currently in week 9 of a "couch to 10K" program. I'm still pretty self-conscious and not too comfortable about running outside. I know that once I'm done with the 10K program, I will move onto the half-marathon program and I will have to run outside.

Last month, I participated in my fourth 5K. Here are the results of the various races I've done.

Date	Race	Time	Pace
3/6/2011	Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K	45:34	15:08
3/4/2012	Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K	53:19	17:47
3/3/2013	Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K	42:38	14:18
4/14/2013	JFK Runway Run	40:39	13:20

For the 2012 Coogan's run, I hurt my foot before I reached the one-mile mark so I basically walked/limped the rest of the race. In 2011 & 2012, I wasn't diligent about training but I decided to get serious this year. When I did the JFK race, I was thrilled to see that I was able to knock an minute off my best pace.

I do need to disclose that the Coogan's course is quite hilly and the JFK course is flat (well, it is a runway...duh).

Revisiting my numbers

I referred to my first post and the measurements I took that day. I took some measurements yesterday & noticed the following changes:
Weight - 207 (down 27 pounds)
Hips - 49.5 (down 6.5 inches)
Bust - 47 (down 4 inches)
Waist - 42.5 (down 1.5 inches)
Right thigh - 28 (down 3 inches)

I joined Weight Watchers on February 4 and lost 14 pounds on the program so far. I came to terms with the fact that losing weight on my own wasn't going to happen. I also realized that it wasn't enough to just go to the gym but I needed to get right with food as well. I have been pretty diligent with going to the gym by doing weights & cardio. I'm currently on Week 3 of my 10K training program.

1/8 status

Weighed in and tipped the scale at 230.

Made it to the gym after not going for 4 days. Spent 30 minutes on the cross-fit machine (equaled 2 miles & burned 220 calories) and did weights for lower body.

The Bally's location that I used to frequent was acquired by LA Fitness a few months ago. Last week, I was driving to the Bally's in Bay Shore which opened a few months ago; it's a great club and there are an ample number of cardio machines.

My husband has been on my ass about me adding him on my membership. I finally got around to joining LA Fitness and I added my husband. As a new member, we are each entitled to an hour with a personal trainer; my session is tomorrow and my husband's is Wednesday.

My husband is looking to build muscle to prepare for his Navy reunion in April.
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