Day 1, week 1

I promise, I won't do this everyday, that is post on my blog about my daily run. However, today is a special day, it's the first day.

Ok, ok, so not really, I've done this before, but today I'm starting over. 6 months seems like a long time away but June 25th will be here before you know it and seeing as I've been rather lazy lately, I feel like I'm starting from the beginning all over again. I stopped running after my 1/2 marathon in June and though I've run occasionally, not on a regular basis. Yesterday was a great day of beginnings. 1/1/11 who doesn't love that?! I love New Years day, an opportunity to start fresh. To get my resolution off to a nice start, I treated myself to homemade eggs Benedict with great friends (30 weight watcher points that I did count, OUCH) followed by a brisk walk on a gorgeous winter Seattle day. I realize weight loss goals will NOT be achieved

with eggs Benedict; it's a sometimes food(Now the whole point of being good to the body does not mean treating oneself like an inmate....there have to be some splurges :)

Now onto the running...

Today was the first day of the training. Last year I used "the couch to 5K" to get started. It starts off slow and then builds up to a 5k. After the 5k distance was achieved I used Hal Higdon's novice 1/2 marathon training schedule. This year, I wasn't really sure were to start. I've been hot and cold with my activity lately and really want to train effectively (cross train, hill train, weight lift etc. ) but I am afraid of injury. I consulted Runners World and an article of coming back after a break suggested to really start slow. The article discussed an ultra marathoner who took an 8 month hiatus and on his first day back did an 'easy' run as a run/walk because he just couldn't do it. The risk of going out strong is that the body will fizzle fast and muscles are just not ready for it, must start slow.

So this is how I got back to 'the couch to 5K'. Day 1, week 1.

It was 36 degrees, (to seattle-ites this is FREEZING!) I took a familiar route, 2 miles, hat, gloves, neck warmer, 3 layers, good socks and my favorite sneakers. I ran solo and brought the ipod which I realized I could use some better running tunes (suggestions welcome). Run/walk every minute after a short warm up and lots of stretching. 30 minutes later I'm home, sweating and I feel great.

In 6 months I can't wait to look back at this blog and look how far I've hopefully come.

I pray for no injuries and for strength to keep up with this commitment.

I'm blogging about it so that I'm accountable to someone other than myself!

Now off to the showers :)