Run, Anne, Run

OK, so yesterday was Day 2, Week 4. My workout went something like this:
Get the kids up, dressed, breakfast eaten, bathroom break taken and ready to go to the gym.
Realize I haven't eaten breakfast and make something for myself. Eat my oatmeal, get dressed for the gym, get Maggie in the kennel. Walk out the door and think "Hmm, did I bring along all my clothes to change into?" and realize I have everything but clean underwear. Can't forget those 'cause there's nothing yuckier than sweat drenched undies after a nice clean shower.
OK, have everything including kids so off we go to the gym.
Referee a few disagreements by the time we get to the gym.
Give strict instructions to the children about appropriate behavior in the youth room and remind them I can see everything they do from my treadmill and issue the 'you better not make me come in there' speech.
We go inside, put things into the locker, kids go in the youth room. I am relieved because there's another child in there and they're playing nicely together.
Get my ipod set and the treadmill turned on. Turn on the tv, find Oprah.
Start with a 5 minute warmup, just walking. No problem.
Next, a 3 minute run. The ipod instructs me not to go too fast as this is just the first run of the session. No problem there, I take that ipod seriously and don't stress myself out. Not too bad, I can handle this running. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie.< Famous last words.>
Walk 90 seconds. Cakewalk.
Run for 5 minutes. Not too fast, I'm instructed. I start out strong, feeling confident. This is so great! I can do this! I should really think about skipping to Week 5, I'm feeling so great. I'm so good, I could skip to Week 6!
About 1 minute into the run, I notice it's really hot in the gym. Sweat starts pouring. In places that are not so nice; like the 'under the boob' sweat, 'above the crack' sweat and the 'run down in my eye and sting' sweat. Darn, and it's only 2 minutes into the run. I think this ipod is broken. No? Well, crap.
Finally, I make it the 5 minutes and I very, very promptly slow down for my next walk. I'm just about recovered and that darned ipod tells me it's time to run again, what??? I notice the woman on the treadmill next to me looking at me rather strangely. "Damn ipod told me to speed up" I tell her. She just smiles tentatively and keeps walking. (At which point, I realize I have now become someone else's YMCA story).
I speed up the treadmill and the music speeds up too. Now, it's getting hard to read the closed captioning on Oprah and run and wipe the extraneous sweat balls that are bouncing around in unusual spots on my body. I glance at the kids. Thank goodness they are behaving. C waves and I grunt and move my hand in her general direction cause man, this running is tough. Contemplate going back to Week 3 workout.
Finally, I make it to the end of my session (there might have been more walking/running segments but I forget now. Selective memory at it's finest!). I gingerly step off the treadmill, wipe it down, and go to tell the kids I'm off to the shower.
Workout completed, legs tired, body sweaty, throat very thirsty.
And, I get to do this all over again one more time.
Oh boy.

Day 1, Week 4, The Finale

I completed Day 1 of Week 4. Whew! I ran on the treadmill this time. That's a first as usually I am on the track or outside. It wasn't so bad but it was hot today. The air temp I mean, at the gym. I haven't sweat this much since last summer. But it felt so good, at least when I finished. I celebrated with a sugar cookie when I got home. What?! You mean I shouldn't have done that! Well, too darned bad, it was delicious and it was only one.
Next up: One day off and then on to Day 2. Woohoo!

Week 4 Revisited

So, on my running plan, I am on Week #4. For the third time. Seriously? Seriously. Crap!
I started out the first Wk 4 okay, then I got called on to volunteer for a couple things and the rest of the week went kaput. No problem, I"ll just start again. And so I did, last week. Did one day just fine, then the weather got nasty, my foot started hurting, I got distracted by a shiny object, whatever...I did not complete my week. No problem, I thought, I'll start again this week. Well, apparently there is a problem. I can't get my butt outside or to the gym to run. Motivation is severly lacking as my sinuses have reminded me that it is spring outside (drippy nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat). Not sleeping well at night is not conducive to getting off one's ass and moving around, at least, in my book. So, this coming week, I am off to do Week 4. Again. For the fourth time. I am nothing if not persistent. I have been doing things like playing kickball with the kids, riding bikes, and a bit of walking. But, as the scale shows, the running has not been consistent.
Wish me luck with my fourth and final time for Week 4. And, feel free to give me crap, er, I mean encouragement as I continue on.

She's a Little Runaway

In my quest for healthier living, I decided (maybe while I was high on doughnut fumes) to start running again. Well, really, not running so much as a shuffling along faster than I normally walk kind of movement. I am getting back into this following the Couch to 5K running program. Since it was soooo nice yesterday, I thought "why go to the gym? I should just run outside". Which was a great idea, in theory. Here's what I learned:
1) It is not smart to start out on a downhill (even though you really feel like you're cruisin') cause when you turn around at the halfway point, it really SUCKS to have a long uphill battle, literally. (And, for the record, I never noticed that the way I went had any 'hill' to it, until I was slogging, er, jogging over it yesterday).
2) It's much harder running into the wind and your ears get cold when you have your hair pulled back. Seriously, the weather was so nice yesterday but that wind in the morning?? Crap!
3) You get funny looks from people driving by when you're on your last leg of the run, uphill, into the wind,  red-faced, shuffling along cause it's hard to have a loose-relaxed stride when you're seriously thinking your legs are about ready to fall off, with bright red ears, your Anne of Green Gables sweatshirt proudly proclaiming "We are kindred spirits", and peach colored capri gym pants which now have a big sweat stain on them..in the back..right above the a***.which apparently gets really dark colored when you sweat. Oh, and did I mention that I kinda forgot that I shouldn't sing out loud when I am the only one who can actually hear the music? I think I scared the poor teenager I went by. Apparently, singing "What have I, What have I, What I done to deserve this" by the Pet Shop Boys did not meet his musical expectations. But he was really happy that I was going in the opposite direction.
That's all my life lessons for today. Now, unto Week 4 of the program next week. Oh joy!

I'm running!!

Did you know that Kenosha is hosting a marathon on May 2? And, guess what?? I'm running!!
I so can't wait for this!!
And if you believe this load of bull, I've got some great swampland for you to buy! Cheap.
I mean, seriously, do you really think I would subject myself to 26.2 miles of sheer grueling pain and agony? Nope, not me. I can barely make it for 10 minutes on the treadmill. I will definitely not be running. But, I do have a good friend who will be running and I plan on cheering her on.
Want more info about the marathon? Check out this site: http://www.wisconsinmarathon.com/Index.html
See you by the lake to cheer!
p.s. Rita & Sue: gotcha!!

Saturday Rush

We won't talk about weigh in today. Nope, won't do it.
But, I will talk about my great time at the gym. I ran again! Yeah. My legs (at 9:53 tonight) are freaking tired! But, I did run about 12 minutes and even worked up to a 6 mph speed. Granted, I didn't stay there long and this time, no one high fived me when I got off the treadmill (what? I didn't mention that before? I'll have to tell that story next). But, I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I gingerly stepped off the treadmill. I say gingerly, because my legs felt like rubber when I was done. Oh yeah, going down the stairs at the gym, not a fun time. Yikes! Guess I'm going to have to try and do this more than one time per week.
Anyway, the first time I ran last week, remember after my fantastic weigh in (that I want to relive again), well, when I finished, the lady next to me on the treadmill said "Way to go! Well done!" and high-fived me. I almost fell off the treadmill. Mostly because my body was tired and I am not the most coordinated at that point and I couldn't believe someone was talking to me. Maybe the fact that I counted down the last 10 seconds out loud (even though I thought I had done it in my head) and gave a little 'woo hoo!' when I finished. Then my running neighbor said "I had 6 miles to run today and didn't think I'd be able to do it, but I saw you running and you challenged me to keep going". I wasn't quite sure how to take it, but decided to make the best of it and accept the compliment, grin and say "Yeah!" (cause you know I just am the BEST conversationalist once I've run and have massive amounts of sweat running down me).
Oh, and by the way, did you know that at my gym, the treadmills are not the nicest to, shall we say, fluffy women who are running? As in, have you ever watched the Nature channel and heard the noise a herd of elephants makes running on the African plains? Yep, that's what my lovely treadmill sounded like last week. I started running, heard this noise and thought "That poor shmuck who's making that noise must be soooo embarassed." Then I realized it was me. Dang!