New Year's Eve 2011

It's hard to believe that 2011 is only hours away from being over and a new year is on the horizon.  There have been some wonderful things happen in my life in 2011 and with the good there have been some bad.  One of the biggest is my commitment to healthy living.  My family has eaten more fruits and veggies this year than EVER! ! !  I have logged 176 miles on daily mile and am continuing on my journey to live to 100.

Instead of reminiscing about  2011 I'd rather focus on what 2012 will bring, so here are a few of my goals...

eat more fresh veggies
run
be more grateful
run
stress less
run
drink more wine
run
read more (5 books about running, 5 books about teaching and 5 books just for fun)

are you seeing a pattern?

I'd like to set a goal of 600 miles for 2012.  That would be 50 miles per month.  Part of me thinks this is very ambitious for me since I only logged 176 for 2011 but with the right focus and encouragement I will meet this goal by August.

Happy New Year's to each and every one of you.  I hope your 2012 brings you good wishes and healthy living.

Ellen

My legs are wrecked

I finished C25K W1D3 today!... But I think I've wrecked my legs.

Let me remind you that my last day of running any length at all was Aug 29 so I've started over with the C25K plan.  While training over the summer I built up quite a running base.  I was running 4 miles a few times a week, so my heart and lungs were strong and in good shape.

While my heart rate and breathing were not a problem during the last week my legs were hurting.  It's hard to believe that I could get in this bad of shape in 3 1/2 months but I'm glad that my problems are just in my legs.

I've done the warm-up walking routine and I've stretched afterwards so the only thing I know to do now is to add stretches before my workout.  I might even look into some compression socks but I don't know much about compression so if you're reading this and can help me out please comment. :-)

Starting Over

Cool Runnings.... I think I love you!
Actually I love who ever created the Couch to 5K running plan  for beginners.

I haven't run since August 29.  There really isn't a good logical reason for my lapse in exercise like an injury or illness.  Nope, it was just pure laziness, lack of motivation, maybe even a little of me thinking that I just didn't have time to run.  Yeah, I know those are all only excuses and pretty lame ones at that even.

I'm not sure what spurred my need for "sucking air" but something sparked me last week to take a walk at lunch and it felt good.  So good in fact that I did it again the next day.  After that those Kentucky rains set in and with the winter solstice coming, the sun has been set before I got home in time to run. (more excuses)

I started running during the spring of 2010, right before my birthday.  Everything went great all the way through week 7 then I quit when the weather got warm.  I started over for the first time last spring bound and determined that I wasn't going to quit when the weather got warm.  I bought dri-fit shirts and shorts, lots of powerade and even one of the coolest things I've ever seen, a frog tog towel.  I even ran my first 5k after completing the C25K plan.  But...I ended up quitting once school started.  (refer back to my list of excuses)

Well, this morning I went back to the C25K plan and started over once again with week 1 day 1 and felt absolutely great at the end.  I've had so much energy all day. There really isn't a good enough excuse to not exercise, so my plan is to follow the plan one more time and see how far it takes me.  Who knows maybe I'll graduate to Gateway to 8K or even the Freeway to 10K plans.