I love weekend runs. Instead of running through a neighborhood in the dark I can run at a park and I can see where I’m going! If that’s not good enough it’s also the end of the week, which means I’ve finished another week in the program successfully!

One thing I’m quickly learning about running- it makes places a lot smaller.  The park I’ve been running at is about a mile long.  I didn’t know that until I started running, I thought it was a lot bigger.  Of course it’s on the water so if you have a boat it IS a lot bigger, but that’s besides the point.  Running gets you to the end of a mile awful fast- even when you’re doing more walking than running like I have been.

I went to a different park this weekend, and started at the place in the picture there.  Unfortunately that path ran out really quick, but I was still able to run along the water and watch for alligators.  None today, but I did see 3 deer when I was driving out of the park.  You have to love a Prius, it’s so quiet that the deer just let me coast by without running off.

Next week starts week 4, that means running for 5 minutes at a time.  According to the plan that’s about 1/2 a mile.  I don’t think that’s true in my case since I run extremely slow, but I’m going to call it a half mile anyways just because it sounds so impressive!

Happy news for me, friends from work said it was so hard to run this morning because it was literally 100% humidity this morning. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ll take the excuse. I know it was foggy for certain.

On my break at work today it was really odd weather- I couldn’t tell if it was very slightly raining or like 200% humidity. If I stood still it was dry, but when I walked it felt like it was raining just a little! Four years in this state now and I’ll never get used to it.

Tomorrow’s forecast is early rain – it may be my first day running in rain. I’d feel bad for myself if I didn’t know that there are people running in the ice and snow. Suddenly I’m looking forward to a little rain!

Today was day 2 of week 3, and it felt harder than day 1! This is the first time that happened so far. I blame it on the weather.
My very first day running it was in the high 40s so I wore a sweatshirt and a light jacket, and I about died of heat exhaustion. I’ve always been the only cold person in a room full of people so that was pretty shocking to me. Since then I’ve under dressed to run and been much more comfortable. But today I just wore a t-shirt and a really light jacket and it was still too hot. It’s 64 degrees outside! This is the first time in my entire life I was wishing it was in the 40s.
My calves felt weird today too, I think it’s what people mean when they say their legs feel heavy. But I don’t care a bit. I’m halfway through week 3 without any injuries or aches and pains and for me that’s all the success I need.
But waking up to 50 degrees for my Saturday run would be nice too!

I did W3D1 this morning (though before 5 a.m. should still count as the middle of the night). Week three is 2 ninety second runs and 2 three minute runs. I thought the three minute runs would be hard, but they weren’t too bad. I do think that I’ll have to create my own mp3s with music I like for when the runs get longer though. Three minutes gives you plenty of time to notice if you’re listening to music you don’t really like.

I can’t believe I’m starting my third week and I haven’t hurt anything yet. I did about have a heart attack this morning though -a man was walking his VERY huge husky and it lunged at me as they went by. I think it was an I want to play lunge, and I saw the dog long before that, but I still jumped about a mile. That’s OK, a good laugh that early in the morning is well worth it.

I finished week 2 day 3 of the Couch to 5k program this morning! The third day was pretty easy both weeks, but that could be because I run day three in the park by the bay; after I wake up because I want to. Much more fun that waking up and running in the dark before work through the neighborhood! That officially wraps up week 2, though I’ll probably go on an even slower than usual run tomorrow night too since my shins didn’t bother me at all this morning. Last Sunday I went with the kids riding around me on their bikes, and they were distracting enough to make it another easy day. Too bad I can’t have them ride their bikes with me in the half marathon!

Next week we go from 90 seconds to 3 minutes at a time. I’m actually looking forward to it even though it won’t be easy.

I can’t believe that I’m happy to be running a big 90 seconds at a time, but it’s more than I could do 2 weeks ago!

What’s even more amazing is that thanks to some very generous people I’ve already raised $200 for the Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of America on my fundraising site. I don’t know if I’ll hit my goal of 3,500 by the end of May, but I’m off to a great start!

This morning was day one of week 2 of the couch to 5k running plan. I was surprised that I didn’t really get out of breath like at the beginning of last week. My shins did hurt a little- but it wasn’t bad at all and it didn’t last very long.

I think the biggest challenge the next two weeks will be simply getting out of bed in time to run – I have to start getting ready for work at 5:30 so will have to be up by 4:30 to get moving on time. Especially if I want to do yoga afterwards, which I do. Yoga seems to keep muscles from getting as sore after a workout, and running is certainly a workout. I didn’t have the time to do it this morning- gotta be more motivated next time.

I can’t believe I’m getting up that early without anyone making me do it. But then I’ve only done it once- we’ll see how the next two weeks go!

About a week and a half ago I heard the same commercial for running the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon Course with Team Challenge to raise funds for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation 4 times in one day. The last time I heard it as I was pulling into my neighborhood, so I still remembered the website when I got in the house. I took a look at the site, decided what the heck (doesn’t that sound decisive?) and signed up.

It seems like a perfect fit – I have ulcerative colitis and I’ve always wanted to be able to run. The downside is that I don’t actually run at all. Yes, I do mean AT ALL. Every time I try to run I get about 5 steps and either my knees hurt too bad for me to do more than hobble back up the driveway or else it’s my shins – either way there is a whole lot of limping and looking pathetic involved. Oh yeah, and the closest thing I’ve every come to fundraising was selling Girl Scout cookies when I was about 9.

I decided this time will be different (again). I went to Feet First in St. Pete’s and got fitted for real running shoes. It took about 5 minute and I got three choices of shoes- two of which didn’t quite feel right and one which did. Then I found a mp3 to listen to on my phone to help me follow the Couch to 5k running plan . Then, I set myself some goals

My first goal is to raise $3,500 for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Please help me obtain this goal by donating on my fundraising page and by passing on this information to anyone who may be interested in helping out.

My second goal is to finish the marathon within the time limit- and that is all. I won’t have a goal of how much of that will be running until I get a lot closer to June!

I finished my first week of the Couch to 5k plan Sunday. The first day was kind of horrible-I didn’t even do all 8 one minute runs. In my defense I wasn’t sure it was ever going to actually end. The third run wasn’t bad at all. I ended up doing a fourth run (against the program rules) Sunday, and it was actually easy. So far the plan and the shoes work!

Tomorrow starts week two, which means a slightly longer time running and less time walking. Wish me luck!