Week Three, Day Three and Week Four, Day One

Week Three, Day Three

Door County and, I guess, the Landmark specifically, is perfect for a lot of things, but Saturday's run showed me that running isn't one of them. It's not that I had a bad run, exactly, it was just that there weren't really a lot of options road-wise. And there were a lot of hills. And wide open farm fields. And a gusty wind.

So what I'm saying, essentially, is that it was a hard run. Not a bad run, but a hard run. But I did it, and I handled it with no problem. I noticed something interesting on this run though, that I've noticed on other runs but brushed off as an anomaly instead of the norm I now think it is, it's easier to run the longer into your run that you are.

Week Four, Day One

I'm not going to lie. Before I left for my run last night I was nervous. Very nervous. Cool Runnings Couch to 5K Running Plan was now telling me that I'd be running more than walking. Significantly more so, in fact. The week four breakdown is run three minutes, walk ninety second, run five minutes, walk two and a half minutes, run three minutes, walk ninety seconds, run five minutes. Now, all you experienced runners out there might think that sounds like cake, but to me last night it sounded like a heck of a lot of running-- possibly more than I could handle.

What actually happened far exceeded my own expectations: I kicked that runs butt and had a fantastic time doing it! I got so into my groove and although I felt tired when I got home, I also felt great. I pushed myself, but I could have easily been talking throughout and didn't feel like I was gasping to keep up. Want to know something else? I even passed two other runners!

A few months ago (heck, a month ago!) running for a minute tired me out and now I'm starting to really feel like I've built up some endurance and might actually be able to make it through to the end of this program. I'm so excited and I can't say enough good things about this walk/run regimen. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can do it!