This happened

May 16 - Semper Fi Fund 5K
 

I actually don't remember my time, but it was around 55 minutes. 

I'm hoping to get my time back down to less than 45 minutes by the end of fall.

Running updates

So far in 2014, I've completed 5 5Ks.

January 1, I did the first at a pace of 17 minutes/mile. I walked the entire thing, so I felt good about that. I know that many races have cut-off times of 16 min/mile (or less) so that gave me a good starting point.

March 1, I did a race that I ended up hating.  The terrain was rough, it was really hilly, and it was pretty disorganized. I'm glad I completed it, but my pace was over 18 min/mile.

April 5, I had a great run and was most proud of how well I fueled myself for it. I broke 16 min/mile and felt fantastic. I mean, I totally crashed & went back to bed that afternoon, but it felt fantastic up until then.

May 3, my pace was just over 16 min/mile.  I didn't fuel quite enough, so I ran out of steam with a little over a half mile to go.

May 10, I did something resembling actual running! I broke 15 minutes/mile! The course was almost perfectly flat, so that helped.   But overall, I could feel the progress from the last couple races.

I'm planning a 4-miler for the end of this month, but I'm giving up on the 10K for June.  I just haven't been training any distance. 

I'm still planning on the 8K in August, so that's my next challenge.

Non-Scale Victories

Since starting my journey to better health & better fitness, I've lost about 20 pounds.  But that's not the point.  Here are a list of things that have happened along the way:

• I can walk up 4 flights of stairs without needing to stop to rest (or thinking I'm going to die.)
• I can button my jeans without looking or feeling like a sausage.
• That would be my old jeans that I couldn't fit into for the 2 years before that.
• I have completed 3 5Ks.
• I can climb on pole (a little bit).
• I can see definition in my biceps.
• I have successfully worked out more days than not for the past 3 months.
• I have lost 2 inches on my waist (which I mostly only care about as it relates to my clothes).

Nobody's Even Chasing Me!

I've tried several times over the past few years to take up running again (I ran in high school & the beginning of college) but it hadn't worked out until this most recent effort.  I think all the additional cardio work (read: Zumba) has helped.

I'm doing a beginner 5K program, and I'm still walking more than running. But my pace per mile has been slowly coming down. I started the year with a 5K. (No, really, it was New Year's Day!) and I'm registered for another on March 1st. I'm planning for 1 in April and 2 in May as well. Then, hopefully, on to a 10K. 

The tentative race calendar is this:

• 3/1, 5K
• 4/5, 5K
• 5/3, 5K
• 5/10, 5K
• 6/14, 10K!!
• 8/23, 8K (Yeah, I know that's backwards, but I can't help that the 10K I want to do is scheduled earlier!)
• 10/4, 5K
• 11/9, 5K
• 11/29, 10-miler (or 5-miler, if I'm not ready)
• 12/9, 8K

I won't say I've actually been bitten by the running bug, but I really appreciate how easy it is to measure progress.   I'll be posting my progress here (along with Runkeeper, Facebook, Fitocracty, Twitter...)