Week 5

Week 5 hurts :)  My next run is supposed to be 5 minute warm up, 20 minute straight run, and then 5 minute cool down.  I try not to think about what I have to do for the next run in between runs, because then I get a little discouraged, when I should instead be motivated. I have had such good luck through out my whole program so far.  Everyday I run is beautiful, breezy, and I just feel so damn good about myself. Some things you must know about in the context of this goal.  I was a competitive swimmer for 13 years of my life, all throughout highschool and college, and then after graduating college, it just all stopped.  Since then I have struggled a lot with self-esteem and lots of other things I think because I derived a lot of "who I am" from the fact that I was a swimmer and athlete.  Well one of my ex's would joke that I wasn't really an athlete because I smoked pretty much the entire length of my swimming career.   I don't consider myself much a land person, or at least I didn't before I started running 5 weeks ago.  I've never been much of a coordinated person and swimming was always so good because my gravity was supported by the water, and there wasn't a lot of room for clutsy errors.  My claim to fame was always the only two reasons I'd ever run were if someone was chasing me, or if I was playing frisbee, because I absolutely adore frisbee. What started this all was quitting smoking about 9 months ago.  To help with quitting I started walking everyday, or just about, on my breaks during work.  5 weeks ago, this was sufficient, and then I decided one day that I just wasn't feeling challenged enough.  Plus, I found this really great Podcast called Podcasts For Running, from Robert Ullrey, which has good music and intervals set for training in a program designed to get you ready to run a 5k in 9 weeks.  It's been amazing really.  I never considered myself a runner.  I tried cross country in middle school and never learned how to breathe right so I would always get cramps.  But this time I've figured out how to breathe and have stuck with the program. I am so proud of myself, and that says it all!