Today, I ran

After last night's blog, I couldn't get running out of my mind.  So this morning, I ran.

Granted, it was week 1, day 1 of the Couch to 5k program.  It consisted of a five minute warm up, then eight segments of 1 minute runs followed by 90 second walks.  But still, I count it as a run.

Pros:

• It made the time I normally walk the track in the morning go by MUCH faster.
• I felt proud of my work out. (I feel like that needs more explanation, but those are the only words I have.)
• I sweated a lot (which makes me feel like I've accomplished something.)

Cons:

• I've been kind of stiff all day and walking slowly.
• I've been super tired ever since.
• Today was tough, and it was just week one, day one. How will I ever progress to running 5ks? or 10ks? or half marathons? or marathons?

I remember when I used to jump back into the couch to five k program after not running for a few weeks, and I'd jump in at like week 3 or 4.  But today I started at week one, day one and it was tough.  The first run felt great.  By the fifth segment, I was having to talk myself into continuing by saying things like "only four runs left!" or "think about Cindy running 10 and half miles! you can run for one minute" or "what would cousin Tim do? He wouldn't give up because Nate doesn't give up!"*

What can I say? It's my own fault that I've let myself get out of running shape.  I honestly can't say if I will continue running, but there's just something about it that makes it a hard habit to shake.  I guess we'll see where this jaunt with running takes me.

*My cousin Tim's 7 year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia three years ago.  Tim just ran a half marathon in January to raise money for leukemia research.  He said repeatedly throughout his training that when he wanted to give up, he'd just think of his son enduring spinal chemo and hospitalizations and the other complications from cancer, and that would help him keep going.