I'm a Runner

Saturday, April 6, 2013, I began a running program. It's called Couch to 5k (a.k.a. "C25K"). It takes you from sitting on your tush on the couch to running 3.1 miles. It accomplishes this in intervals. It is broken down into 8 weeks with you doing the program 3 days a week. Each day begins with a 5 minute warm up and ends with a 5 minute cool down. In between, you alternate running (or most likely jogging) with walking. Week 1 you jog for 1 minute and walk for 2 minutes. As the weeks go on, you run more and walk less.

Last Spring, my husband and I started a running program that Runner's World had, it's very similar to the C25K program. We did it for a week or two and just about died. It was awful. I was the one with the cheap-o heart rate monitor watch that you have to press with a finger to get your heart rate. I was the one who watched the time for when to run and when to walk. It was so distracting.

After we quit the program, I kind of stopped working out. That was common with me. I'd give working out a good few weeks and then just quit. My heart wasn't in it. I didn't really care or wasn't really ready to make those changes. I saw awful pictures of myself at my best friend's wedding and even they weren't enough to keep me going. I did join MyFitnessPal ("MFP") in June 2012 and started counting my calories and working out sporadically, but didn't really get anywhere. Then, my own wedding came around in August 2012, and the pictures came out beautiful. I hadn't lost any weight between my friend's wedding in May and my wedding in August. But how I look in the pictures is completely different. I looked beautiful. What was so wrong with me that I had to lose weight?

I still felt fat and ugly even after the wedding, but I guess I just didn't care? I don't remember what defining moment I had that prompted me to do this but in November 2012 I did Advocare's 10-Day Herbal Cleanse. It's the first 10 days of their 24 day Challenge. I wanted to do the whole 24 days but couldn't afford it, and really still can't. But beginning that cleanse was the start of new things for me.

It's fairly strict and clean. No dairy, no sugar, no coffee, no flour, lean meats. I pretty much survived on salads and chicken. There are fiber drinks in the morning, which are awful but totally worth it, probiotics and herbal tablets. Some people think of a cleanse as no solid foods and running to the bathroom every 5 minutes as your bowels clear. This is not like that at all. Most people do lose weight on the cleanse, which was part of the draw for me, but it was mostly just a boost I needed to form healthier eating habits. I ate a salad every day for lunch. To this day, 5 months later, I still eat a salad for lunch. I may have something else once or twice a month in place of a salad, but primarily I eat salads every day. I formed amazing habits on the cleanse that I have managed to keep in place long after.

Since November, I have been working out fairly consistently 3-5 days a week, with the exception of 3 weeks in February when I injured my back. I have logged into MFP and logged my food for over 175 days in a row. That's now how long I've been a member because I'd miss a day here and there, especially on weekends, but since November I've logged in every day.

In 5 months I've lost 9lbs and a few inches. It seems like it should be more than that, but I truthfully haven't been pushing myself as hard as I could. I've seen awesome changes in just the 2 weeks that I've been running.

I love running. I hated it with a passion in high school. I don't really know why aside from the fact that I was out of shape and everything jiggled. Everything jiggles now, too, but it doesn't bother me. I don't seem to feel or notice it much. I crave running now. I'm super slow and I walk a lot, but I get out there and do it 3 days a week.

I read on Runner's World that you don't have to run well or consistently to consider yourself a runner. I like the theory. I like that I can consider myself a runner. But I don't really feel like a runner, yet. I wonder at what point I'll feel like I've finally deserved to be called a runner. Especially in light of the bombings in Boston, I feel even less deserving of being called a runner. But I will push on. I will continue running. I want to experience the "Runner's High" that runner's talk about. I want to say I have, that pure jubilation when everything falls into place, but I've only been running a few weeks and people who have run for years only experience it a handful of times. I will experience a Runner's High. And I will blog about it when it happens. I won't have to think back on my runs and wonder if the joyful feeling is that apparently elusive Runner's High.