Week 2, Day 2

46° this morning. I threw on my pants and a sweat shirt and headed down to the track. I didn’t get up early enough to go swimming with my mom, but her caretaker had already planned on taking her, so I didn’t have to worry about her missing out. I’m sad I didn’t get to swim, but hey. It’s my own damn fault.

So today was my second day running Week 2 of the Couch to 5k training program. I took a break from working out after Wednesday of last week. I just wasn’t feeling well at all. I’m better now, though still pretty sneezy. My dog is better, too. I gave him Tramadol twice a day and did TTouch on him. Seems to have worked. He’s back to his (ab)normal self.

Anyway. I got down to the track a bit late, which made me mad. I started thinking about everything I have to do, and it overwhelmed me so much I almost turned around and got back in my car. But then I thought, just think about running. That’s all you have to concentrate on right now.

And it worked. I’m not saying I wasn’t dying by the third run, but I did it. And gad, what a push it was. I don’t know how I’m ever going to make it to three minutes straight. BUT! I’m not going to think about that right now. Right now, it’s all about Week 2 and how it’s kicking my ass.

As I mentioned, I didn’t work out for four days last week, and the result was a lot of pain. It was a great reminder of how beneficial exercise is, even when I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. It’s just not worth the pain to slack off, and I honestly never though I would think that way. Ever since I was diagnosed with arthritis, I’ve been getting more and more sedentary. I’m in pain, I don’t want to move around, blah blah blah. What made it worse was doing reception instead of tech work at the animal hospital I used to work at. I went from being on my feet for 11 and a half hours a day, to sitting on my ass all day. And that did not agree with me.

So for four years, my physical condition had been getting worse and worse until I got to a point where I felt like, well, this is it. This is the best I can hope for. Pain and misery and a lifetime of obesity. That all changed seven months ago. Something clicked and I decided I’d had it. I started the Self Challenge and in three months went from this to this.

Then my sister told me about the Couch to 5k program, which we attempted several times. Several months ago, I moved out of my sister’s house and went to live with my disabled mother, who needed some looking after. Lucky for me, there’s an abandoned track behind the church in the small town we live in, and I started using that.

I honestly never thought I’d ever be able to run. I’d been using the elliptical trainer at my sister’s house for about five months and that really, really helped. I was able to build up my endurance but not mess up my arthritic knees.

And here I am now, on Week 2 of the program. I’m definitely going to extend it another week. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, either. I’m not in a hurry.

I had the track all to myself this morning. Honestly, I think it was too cold for the locals. And it was only 46°! In Chicago, we break out the lawn furniture when it hits 40°.

It warmed up pretty quickly, so I hung my sweatshirt on the fence post while I was stretching. Worked up a good sweat during the run, and thankfully a small breeze showed up. Came in from the south this time. Nice and cloudy but not overcast (like it is now).

What I really need to focus on now, and I keep saying this, is my eating habits. I’m doing pretty good at only eating when I’m actually hungry, but the food I’m eating isn’t exactly healthy. It’s not bad, but I’m not really getting what I need. I’ve got some acorn squash I’m going to make, but I find I prefer butternut squash. Which amazes me because I never ate squash before, and now I’m realizing which kind I like better. That makes me happy. I don’t want to be a boring food person. I want to experiment.

My mom made me a burrito last night. Sure it had faux meat in it and I dumped some (vegan) sour cream on it, but it still had fresh vegetables in it and the wrap was pretty low cal. Not the worst dinner in the world, plus I had a gigantic salad beforehand.

Oh, and I stopped drinking pop. Every now and then I’ll have a can, but for the most part, I’m done with it. No way in hell I’m giving up the bubble tea, but that’s fine because I don’t have it very often.

For breakfast this morning, I had an orange and a cup of soy milk. Not the best combo, I'm sure, but I had to eat something before I took my ibuprofen. I haven't hand lunch yet, but I'll probably whip up some leftover burrito from last night.

Wow, I can’t shut up today, can I?

Back to the running. Yeah, it was killer. Not too bad, but certainly not easy. I’m looking forward to the day I can do this as easily as I can Week 1.

And another thing, I got my period last week, and not only was it not as heavy as it normally is, but it wasn’t as long. Could running have anything to do with that?

Okay, I need to shut up and get going.