Week 3: Day 3 - Pink Flamingos and Such

No running today. Just some strength training (that makes it sound like it was easy), but I'll be back at it tomorrow. If you were curious (and even if you weren't), the 5K race that I am planning on participating in is the Throo the Zoo 5K Run/Walk on May 8th at 8:00am. I thought it would be pretty sweet to be running the race and checking out the flamingos at the same time!

I just had a thought...I suppose I should simply run the race with the goal of finishing. I'd like to be able to run all the way through without taking any walking breaks. However, having somewhat of a competitive nature, I think it would be motivating to set a time to beat. But what time??? Well, since I'm in my 3rd week of training now, that means I'm almost to the halfway mark of my preparation. So here's my idea: After week 4 I'll give the ol' 3.1 miler a test run. I'll set my very first personal record (PR) and after I see what I'm capable of (or not capable of) I'll make my race day goal to set a new PR. Sound good? It does to me. That's all that matters right? :) Until next time...

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." -Oprah Winfrey

Week 3: Day 2 - It's a Beautiful Morning

Blisters or no blisters, I was going to run today. Unless you count playing basketball on Sunday (which you should), I hadn't ran since last Thursday. Well, I ran today. 8:30am I was out the door and into the 45 degree weather - when I realized how cold it felt and went back for my jacket...and then I was out the door. I started my stop watch to time my 5 minutes of walking to warm up, and hit play on my iPod - Awakening by the Passion Worship Band. It was a little cold, but the fresh smell of a new day made me feel like I was getting the most out of it by starting it off with a run. After 5 minutes of walking I reset my watch at 00:00 and took off.

The nice thing about today's run was that I didn't struggle during the last 2 or 3 5 minute runs like I did the first time I ran/walked the same times. My legs stayed strong the entire time and my lungs only really started to feel it during my last run. It actually went by fast, possibly due to the music but possibly because I was counting my laps this time. I've never done that in the past, but today I decided to for some reason. 23 full laps and it made me focus on something else rather than looking at my watch to see how much time I had left before I could walk for 1 minute. I also think playing basketball, which involves a lot of sprinting, helped my endurance as well.

On my last lap I had a visitor, some guy in a red hoodie started walking the track (not really a track, more like a side walk that goes around a small pond). Once I was finished he started running. It's good to see people getting motivated to exercise and stay healthy. Next time I will move up to 6 minute runs and 1 minute walks 4x's and ending in a 2 minute run. That's all for now. Until next time...

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." -Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner