photo challenge: Movement

Today I began my 8th week of training for my 1st 5k race!

This is quite the personal accomplishment for me, in the past the only time I would consider running would be away from something scary or towards something yummy! The thought of running for "fun" never crossed my mind.  However after my 1st son was born I was really struggling to loose my "baby" weight and my husband in an act of encouragement suggested we start running together...In a moment of desperation I agreed. Thankfully he knew of a plan that would not kill me, so I was introduced to the "couch to 5k" running. I can not rave enough about this plan, especially if you've never ran before, because its very "do-able" its a 8 week plan that starts off as simple as run/jog 60 secs, walk 90 secs, repeat until you've been at it for 20 mins. Seriously, anyone can do this, and week by week the intervals change and before you know it you're running for 30 mins straight!!

The 1st time I attempted this program I believe I made it to week 3 before I quite making running a priority and allowed myself to get busy with other stuff. Fast forward 2 yrs into the future, baby #2  has been born and once again I decide to start the C25K program all over again..this time I made it about 2 weeks in before our life got super crazy with packing and moving to VA.
Well I guess the 3rd time is a charm, like I mentioned at the beginning of this post I have made it 8 weeks in & am now able to run/jog for 28 mins straight & I am registered for my 1st 5k, the Shamrock 5k on March 17th.

As a reward to myself for my dedication and also as a way to motivate myself to keep running, I went to a specialty running store,Off n' Running, this past weekend and got fitted for running shoes.

When I started running I began to experience throbbing pain in my knees, I just chalked it up to being out of shape, but come to find out my pain was caused by the lack of support in my shoes, allowing my feet to roll inward as I ran. Who Knew?!?

So now I have to run in shoes with crazy support, some of the ones I tried on looked like old lady orthopedic shoes, thankfully the Sauconys I ended up with don't look too bad, However long gone are the days when I chose my running shoes based on how "cute" they looked, whammy :(

I have come to have a sort of love/dislike relationship with running. I know some runners talk about  experiencing a "runners high"while running but I have to get there yet... maybe I never will. Running hasn't gotten much easier for me either, I still have to get on the treadmill and tell my brain to shut up and just keep going! But with the hassle has come some rewards! I have lost 10 lbs and drop down a size in my jeans :)

Here are a few "keys" of success for me:

1) I am blessed with a gym membership that includes childcare! 

2) I made achievable goals / rewards - my 1st goal/reward is: loose 10 lbs = get a haircut :)

3)being okay with the process, I know that I am not going to run a marathon tomorrow or get to my ideal weight in 3 months.

4) blabbing about it on Facebook, this may sound odd but seriously knowing that almost everyone I know, knows I'm doing the c25k encourages me to keep going when I want to quit!