Taryn's Running Journey

Goal .. from this:

to this:

It all started in February. I wanted to look "hot" for the bathing suit season ... so I figured I'd start the Couch to 5K program and get my little I-used-to-play-soccer-and-at-Midfield-no-less hiney back into shape. Once upon a time, yours truly could pound out a 7:30 mile, which in my opinion: is pretty freakin quick. (Of course ... I remember feeling like I might drop dead after running a mile with that time; but playing midfield for two 45 minute halves? At one point in my life .. I was in great shape)

So in February, I started the couch to 5K program. But no sooner do I start that program ... and I get the flu. Immediately following the flu, I get a cold. After that? Allergies hit. And by this time, it's already April and I've gotten nowhere. GAH! And around that time? For the first time in 5 or 6 years ... I started gaining weight. A week ago I weighed 130 pounds. And I freaked out.

I just finished Week 5, Day 2 this afternoon ... 5 min warmup, 8 min jog, 5 min walk, 8 min jog, 5 min cooldown. Total time? 2.56 miles in 32 minutes. Considering there was a total of 15 minutes of walking (and quite honestly, 5 minutes is much too long), I'm very satisfied with these results in that I've never run more than a mile in my entire life. Ideally, I want to drop my average to 9 minutes per mile. However! While I've never felt better in my whole life with running ... maybe I'm settling into too comfortable of a jog. According to my RunKeeper app ... I only burned a total of 237 calories.

This morning? I weighed 127 pounds ... losing 3 pounds over 2 days? That's not too shabby. My goal is to drop down to 120 pounds in 2.5 weeks; in addition to extending my running distance by another half mile. At some point (read: two weeks from now), I want to be running 3 miles without stopping. I'll spend the remaining 2 weeks until race day shaving off time.

Depending on how I fare with the 5K will really tell the tale ... do I start training and sign up for the Cape Elizabeth Beach to Beacon 10K at the end of the summer?