From Couch to 5K

I always hated running. My old adage used to be "I don't run unless someone is chasing me... or there's free food". But last year, we decided to pick up running, anyway.


How did this happen? I can't even recall. But what I do know is that we just decided to go out for a run one day. After about 2 minutes I thought my lungs would catch on fire and my heart would explode. It was terrible. Why did people do this to themselves? And for fun, no less? So, I did what I also do when I have a question - I google it. By doing so, I came across a program called Couch to 5K. It's a 10 week program that uses interval training three days per week to take you from coach potato to running hero in 10 weeks. (Okay, maybe not a running hero, but at least someone that can run an entire 5K.)

Armed with this new training program loaded on my iPod, we signed up for our first 5K that was 11 weeks off. The first week is intervals of 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking for 30 minutes total. I recall thinking "this is my kind of running" (aka - the kind that has more walking than running).

Over the course of those 10 weeks we slowly got in better shape and able to run not only farther, but faster, as well. When our first 5K race came around in June, I was very anxious. I'd always been so confused by those people that paid money to run. Didn't they know they could run for free anywhere? I didn't feel so bad about paying the entry fee, as the money was going to support our local "rails-to-trails" program (the same trail we run on many times each week!). I didn't anticipate the adrenaline from a race that I had no possibility of winning (or even placing in). But something about the early morning crowd, the people, the energy - it just gets the adrenaline pumping. Well, long story short, we ended up meeting our goal of running the entire 5K without walking. Did we break land speed records? Of course not; but we were both proud of ourselves for having stuck with the program and completed our goal.

Races have since become a guilty (or not so guilty) pleasure and give us something to "train" for to keep us hitting the pavement as often as we can. Our goal is always to improve over our last race time and I look forward to our first race of 2011 to see if we can accomplish that goal.