Aaaaand We're Back

I know I've said it before, but looking at my calendar and seeing all the crazy numbers this month:

• March 11th is our 5 year anniversary
• March 12th is my first of two bridal showers
• March 20th we have our details meeting
• March 25th is 100 days till the wedding!!!

It's really time to get this show on the road. I am recommitting to the Couch to 5k Challenge and tonight I went on my first run in oh idk, three months?

Basically I found a great new playlist of mp3 podcast whatever you want to call them for the entire work out. I had been listening to a track my friend Kari had put together and she only ever made a mix for the first two weeks. Basically I'm gonna Go Nicole Myself on this one.

The mixes are great and I really like how she used a slower song and a faster song because it gives me a good beat to run to and a decent beat to walk to. Granted I'm still working on my stride so it's a little pathetic to see me at the end of the intervals because I'm starting to drag my feet a little on the run portion, but it can only get better from here.

Week 1: Day 1
Casey is now my butt kicker. I may or may not have mentioned before but sometimes I dream about running. I think it means I'm supposed to be a runner. Getting there however is a bit harder than it should be, so I have enlisted Casey to kick my butt and make me go running with her at least 3 times a week. The girl runs at least 6 times a week so it's not like I'm really making her go out of her way. Add onto that she is working on schoooling for physiology and exercise science and "training" someone is good experience for her.

Let's not forget that this Saturday marks 120 days to the wedding. Yesh! Time to get my jiggly but into gear!

Casey and I went over to a little park in Valley Stream and she basically ran off within about 30 seconds of my warm up walk. It's okay, she offered to totally kick my butt and murder me by making me run with her until I wanted to keel over and die and then get up and do some more. (Not really like that, but she's working on a program with her brother that had him running full miles in two weeks (not too shabby)!) But this was something I wanted to be able to do on my own if Casey wasn't around or available and while I love her encouragement and ass-kickedness it's really something I need to learn how to do on my own. I promised her when I got up to actually running a mile or so then I'd let her kick my butt once a week and we'd do whatever interval, speed, distance, etc. run she wanted.

Onto the recap:
The park is cute. Not huge. I like it. There's a lot of runners, a bunch of walkers, and some peeps playing b-ball. There's even a Public Safety patrol that must have lapped me about two times driving around. All that makes me feel pretty safe.

I ran/walked a little over a mile in about 23 minutes. That includes a 5 minute warm up and a 3 minute cool down. So not awful. Especially since the last time I ran a full mile and had it timed way back in high school I could only do it in 11 minutes. Yeah, I know, I'm awesome.

What was great about this run was I never really felt like I was torturing myself. Sure, I am horribly out of shape and I felt nauseated on the last leg of the run, but I pushed through and felt fine within about 10 minutes after I completed the work out. Other than the slight nauseated feelings during the running intervals toward the end I felt great. I didn't feel like I was dying, which I usually do when running. I didn't feel dehydrated or sore.

This morning I woke up and had a little soreness to my knee, but I think it was just a bit of a hyperextension if anything. I plan on doing a low impact work out tonight, something upper body probably so I don't stress it out any more.

Next run is planned for Thursday. And then I'm hoping I can squeeze one in on Saturday morning in Julianne's complex before we have breakfast and go dress shopping. I've got this people, this time I'm serious.

March = m'bitch