The way things work

So as some of you know I've finally taken up running. After 28 years of moaning about how much I hate running I decided to give it a shot. Basically going to the gym 5 days a week and doing the bike/elliptical/zumba and weights still wasn't cutting it. Oh the joys of PCOS. So my trainer, (who is a marathoner) started talking to me about barefoot running. She told me about the book Born to Run (fabulous and highly recommended) and how a bunch of the serious runners were taking their shoes off to help get back to natural running and build up their feet muscles.

What I learned is that wearing cushy running shoes is totally antithetical to our body. Because of the big thick heel you're forced to run heel-toe - but this is not the way our bodies are designed. They are designed to run ball-heel-ball (with that heel being basically just a brush on the ground). This concept got me interested enough to actually step out of the gym, leash up the dogs and take a jog around the block. And guess what? I actually enjoyed it!! So I've been running for a little over a month now, slowly building up my time. At this point I'm at a pace which is about: run 2 minutes, walk 1, repeat repeat repeat for about 30 minutes or so.

So I decided to set a goal for myself. And I even roped Mack into setting the same goal! Yipee for being married. I debated posting on this (I mean how embarrassing should I fail!) but decided instead if I post and then keep you updated its actually more encouraging. I figure the more people that know the more I'll want to succeed. So, here's my goal:

Running a half marathon (13.1 miles) in the January 2011 Houston Marathon.

Ok, so seriously the thought of that scares me - I mean who the heck are these crazy runners? But, I want to be a crazy runner!! So my plan is to follow the Runner's World training plans along these lines:

From now until Feb-March I'm training for a 5k - there are 5ks like every weekend in College Station and Houston, so that's what I'm shooting to run. In particular I think it would be fun to run the Maggies' GLOW run on Feb 26th. It's a night run with glow sticks - how cool is that!?

After I run my first 5k (and I hope to do multiple ones to help continue training) I'll be working towards a 10k for the end of summer.

Finally, after running a 10k I'm shooting for the whole 13.1 miles. No thoughts of running a full marathon yet. I mean, I can't run more than a couple minutes at at time, I think giving myself a year and a couple of months is still going to take a lot to get to 13.1 miles. 13.1 miles, that sort of makes me cringe even to write it.

So, there you have it. Oh wait, one more thing. I have a stress fracture in my right foot. Yup, I just start running and then I hurt myself walking in Australia. Woohoo. So now I have to ask for your prayers because not only do I have to take time to heal myself - I still have a deadline.