I think I might be a runner now

I ran my first official post-c25k 5k on Saturday morning. Yaaaaaaaay!!!

I enjoyed it thoroughly. My husband and I invited lots of friends to join us at the run, and since there was a 10k, a 5k, and a 1k, there was a little something for everyone. Our group had a total of 17 people running or walking – 7 of us ran the 5k, 3 of us walked the 5k, 4 of us ran the 10k, and 3 of us walked the 1k.

When it came to the seven 5k runners, I was right smack in the middle in terms of finishing times – two guys finished significantly ahead of me, two finished later, and three of us were right in the middle. I was the only female who ran the 5k – most of the women walked the 5k or 1k, although one ran the 10k (she graduated from the couch to 5k program in July of 2007).

My official chip time was 32:08 minutes. I am completely satisfied with this time. My goal was to be at or near 35 minutes; I beat my goal!

I ended up running the entire distance with my husband, which was fun – we’d planned on running separately but figured we’d start out together and separate once one person needed to slow down or speed up. But instead of separating, we stayed together the whole time. I think his ability to run faster than me was offset by the fact that I’d trained more consistently, and I'd recently done much longer training runs than he’d done.

The run felt very right to me. I feel like the couch to 5k program prepared me for the run … well, it prepared me for everything except dodging strollers and waist-high children, anyway. There were LOTS of little people who would sprint forward and then abruptly stop, and lots of folks moving not-so-quickly while pushing strollers. I don’t know if my time was hurt by the obstacle course-ness of the beginning of the race, or if I actually ran faster to get out of the first-mile chaos.

Unfortunately, my knees are a little sore. I think I upped my distance a little too quickly in the last couple weeks. I’m going to rest my joints for a day or two (maybe I’ll do the recumbent bike tonight rather than running), then get back to 30 minute runs 3 days a week.

I’ve definitely caught the running bug. Right now I’m contemplating doing a 5k a month through the summer, and then beginning to train for a 10k towards the end of the summer or in the fall. I need to figure out what 10k will be my goal race and plan around that. There’s a 10k in August, but I’m not so on board with doing a 10k in August in Texas. I’d rather do a 10k after it’s cooled off a bit.

I also need to settle on a 10k training program. I was originally leaning towards Hal Higdon’s 10k program for novices, but now I’m considering the Becoming a One Hour Runner program instead. I really like training based on time instead of distance … I think that works better for me.

It’s good that being active is the game plan – with the way I ate on Friday and all weekend I’ll need to find ways to burn calories. I had some stress eating on Friday, then on Saturday we went out for pancakes after our race, and then we went for beers. On Sunday I did fine all day, but we had Stars hockey tickets for that night and I went a little crazy on the stadium food. The scale and I … let’s just say we’re not friends this morning.

Thank goodness for Kathy’s “one perfect day” challenge … hopefully that’ll get me back on track.

I think the cart looks rather nice in front of the horse

I really need to focus on work today, because mid-afternoon I’m going to skip out of work early and go shopping with an old friend of mine. So what am I doing? Reading blogs and writing a blog post. Brilliant. At least I have my priorities straight.

Hooray for going shopping this afternoon. I haven’t reached goal yet technically, but you wouldn’t know it from how I’ve been buying clothes lately. Over the past two weeks or so I’ve been clothes shopping more than I’d been for the past year. Actually, that doesn’t mean a whole lot since I hadn’t been at all in the past year … but it’s safe to say I’ve hit about 5 different stores in the past few weeks, and I actually purchased things at most of them.

I’m not usually much of a shopper – when I’m not in pajamas working here at home, I live in jeans and t-shirts typically. But I’ve decided that I need to clear out most of my old tee’s and try for a more interesting look. If nothing else, I should aim to pair my jeans with cute tops. Over the past couple weeks I’ve gotten rid of approximately 4.6 million t-shirts and purchased 8 or so tops. It makes me happy to look in my closet and see fun clothing options. It makes me feel good to wear clothes that flatter my slimmer, fitter figure.

To make room for new, cute stuff that fits, I’ve managed to clear out quite a bit of my old clothes … the old stained and/or pill-y and/or stretched out and/or hole-y and/or too-big t-shirts are gone. The jeans and pants that are two big are sitting on my dresser waiting for a trip to the consignment shop. I’ve given some hand-me-ups to my Mom, some sweaters went to a friend, and I have some other clothes that are homeless but I’m actively looking for a new home for them.

I might be putting the cart in front of the horse to do this cleaning-out and shopping before I technically reach goal, but I’m so close. Over the past few weeks I’ve felt good about how I look physically, and any physical changes that’ll happen between 2 weeks ago and actually reaching goal (which will happen very soon) will be subtle to the point of being non-existent. And I tell you, it’s a lot of fun to go shopping when you’re comfortable with how you look! Trying on clothes and having some of them look flattering is a great feeling. Not everything looks great, but some things do. I've found that some jeans are still disturbing-looking, but some look good. Maybe today I’ll even have the guts to try on a bathing suit – I haven’t gone there yet. *shudder* Anyway, for the most part, shopping lately has been very fun.

So if I’m putting the cart before the horse, so be it.

Speaking of putting the cart before the horse, lately I’ve been contemplating what to do AFTER I finish the couch to 5k and run the April 19th race. I know, I know, I’ve got a month to go. But I’ve been wondering … what comes next? I think I’ll need to find a new goal/program. The couch to 5k has worked out so well for me; it motivated me to exercise in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I think the key for me is structure and having a solid end-goal.

I’ve been contemplating the Hal Higdon 10-K Training for a Novice program. I like it because it is a running program that isn’t ALL about running … I can actually cross train, so that (to me) means that in addition to running I can do aerobics or bike or something else I enjoy. The running has been fun, but I do miss the other things I used to do. Incorporating these other activities into a training program is really appealing to me.

I think I’ll have to come up with some “in between the couch to 5k and Hal’s program” program for myself, to work myself up to exercising 6 days a week … right now I’m only exercising 3 days a week. I’ll start mulling over what that in-between program will look like as the next month passes.

I’m not 100% sold on the Hal Higdon program, though. It looks good, but I’m sure I’m not aware of all my options. As someone new to running, I don’t really know what programs are out there. If anyone else has any suggestions for what might come next, I’m all ears.