r-u-n-n-o-f-t

Tuesday:
Exercise: AM walk with Cammie, Yourself!Fitness - flexibility workout
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Smoothie
Exercise:
Dinner:
Fuhrmometer:

In Dr. Fuhrman's forums one of the members has been reporting about his training for his first marathon. He made a comment about how he had been into running a few years ago when he weighed more than he does now. I've been wanting to start running but have been hesitant because I don't want to hurt my knees and hips by starting to run while I am still so substantially overweight, and also because I thought it would be easier to run when I am lighter. I asked this other member if he thought that it is easier to run now that he has lost weight from where he was before and let him know my concerns about starting to run now.

To paraphrase his response, he feels that he's putting as much effort into his runs as he did before but has realized that he runs quite a bit faster now. He also related something out of a running book about how Oprah started out to run her first marathon when she weighed 222 pounds (or something close to that).

"Hey! I weigh less than 222 pounds! AND I'll bet I'm a lot younger than Oprah was too! AND I eat better!" I said to myself. "It's true. PLUS there are other non-Oprah people out there who run marathons and compete in triathlons who have pounds to lose, so why not me?"

So I am going to start running. I thought that I would try the Couch to 5k running program on CoolRunning.com, which gradually builds you up over 9 weeks from very little running to running the 5k. When I looked at the program I got a little scared, it wants you to aim to run the 3 miles in 30 minutes. That's a 10 minute mile, or an average of 6 miles per hour. I know to some that doesn't sound like very fast but I run S L O W - 5mph is fast for me. Sure I could do the C25K at my own speed but I wouldn't want to, I would want to complete the program as written.

My boss is an avid runner and has been very supportive of me as I lose weight, eat better and become more active. I told her I was going to start the C25K program and she thought it would be better to work on running the 3 miles now (I know I've done at least 2 without stopping so I could probably do 3) and then as I practice I'll get faster. It makes sense, but then again C25K does too.

She also said that she'd run a 5k with me around my birthday (Labor Day weekend) - so that's my goal. Run a 5k by/on Labor Day weekend. I know I can do it, but I want to feel confident and do it well.

I'm not sure what my specific plan is going to turn out to be, but I do know that I am going to start running 3x per week (in addition to walking Cammie, bike rides, and Yourself!Fitness). I think I'll need to do some outside running as well as on the treadmill. I want to get on the TM and just run 3 miles first to show myself that I can do it, no matter what the time and then go from there. Any advice from the runners out there?