Two things I’m proud of July 20, 2011

To start, let me mention one thing I’m not proud of: that my negative post about Fecalith has been left for so long as the first thing anyone sees if they happen to check this blog.

There are two things I’m proud of myself for right now:

1) As of now, I’ve read 60 books thus far in 2011. I haven’t read too many books in July, but I’ve already exceeded my goal of reading 45 this year.  I haven’t made much progress on most of my other goals for the year, but it’s nice to have one in the bag.

2) Today, for the first time since my senior year of high school (1997), I ran for over 20 minutes straight. If you’re at all familiar with the content of this blog, you’ll know that I enjoy walking.  A LOT. I’ve found it more difficult to carve out time for long (7-8 mile) walks recently, as we have been relatively short-staffed at work. It’s also very, very hot here (currently 96 F, but “feels like” over 100 F), so I’m not often up for walking outside.

I have never enjoyed running, though I was in pretty good shape in high school from the team sports I was involved in. Since I stopped running after high school, for no reason other than laziness, I have always hated the idea of it, but, at the same time, considered the ability to run for even a few miles at a time the pinnacle of fitness, at least for me. So, in the intervening years, even though I can walk 12-13 miles without getting tired, I have always felt like I’m not “in shape.”

I’m still not “in shape.”

But I’m working on it!

A few weeks ago, I decided to start the Couch to 5K program. Basically, the program is designed to help people move from sedentary lifestyles (as couch potatoes) to being able to run 5K. I wasn’t quite a couch potato at the start, so the first workouts were pretty easy for me. I downloaded an app for my phone that keeps track of time and has each of the programmed workouts spelled out. I did my first few workouts outside, spending the whole time cursing the weather and trying not to die.

Then, a revelation of sorts:

There is a treadmill staff can use at work. Its setup leaves much to be desired–the front end is about two feet from a white wall, decorated only with a mirror. So, there isn’t much to look at, other than my reflection in the mirror as I run (not good), my feet (not good, but sometimes necessary to ensure I’m running straight), or the time/distance screen, which just makes me obsess over how slowly things are going. Still, the treadmill has the ultimate benefit of being in a cool place.

So, over the past few weeks, I’ve been gradually increasing the proportion of time I run to time I walk in a 30-35 minute workout. Before today, the most I had run continuously was five minutes. (In yesterday’s workout, for example, I warmed up, ran five minutes, walked three, ran five, walked three, ran five, then did a cool-down). I was set to do a 20-minute run on Thursday (I’m doing a workout a day, if I didn’t mention that yet), and I was petrified about being able to do it.

I decided to try it today. And I did it! And I could have kept going! (Couch to 5K is over when I can run thirty minutes straight).

I am really proud of myself.

Sorry for writing so much about this, but it’s gotta be better than another post about work!

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