Who goes from the Couch to a 5K?

{ January 20, 2010 @ 10:34 am } · { Running }
{ Tags: cool running, Couch to 5K, Running, starting out }

I'm going to miss this life...

While perusing through Twitter Tweets, I found a link to a blog (SHOCKER!) that linked to another blog, that linked to another, and so on and so forth….

One of these blogs happened to be from a woman, who I assume is named Mindy.  I say this, because her blog is named ‘Skinny Mindy.’  I could be wrong.

Today she posted about how there are only 6 weeks and some odd days until her first 5K and how she feels about it.   This girl is taking her workouts to new levels, and I think that is fantastic!  She has pages tracking her weight, her workouts and her posts are insightful.  I’m hoping to keep up with her to see how she does, and to motivate myself to do just as much, if not more!  (No offense, Mindy!  I don’t see how I could  do more, but you never know!)

While reading Mindy’s posts, I saw her blogroll.  One of her links was to the something called ‘Couch to 5K.’

My intrest was piqued.  So I clicked.  And I am so glad I did!

There, I found a site called Cool Running which at first gave me flashbacks of the John Candy movie with the Jamaican bobsled team training for the Olympics..  Great movie, but wrong idea.  heh… 

The site is fantastic.  I clicked around for a good part of my morning (sorry Boss Lady!), signed up and learned a lot.  There are a ton (no pun intended) of supportive people on there – willing to listen, give advice, and encourage the newcomers.  I find that to be a huge part of my problem.  I need that motivation.  I need to be held accountable for what I do, or do not achieve.  Posting onto the forums gave me the inspiration to start the Couch to 5K program.

It was actually great, but I’ll do a second post on that one for my own benefit.

When I got back, I logged on to the computer – synched my Nike+ to the Nike+ website (I have 9 miles to go before I get to the next level.  I’m ‘Yellow’ now.).  I entered my info on the Daily Mile website.  And then I entered everything onto the Cool Running tracker.  I think it’s technically through active.com but it was still neat to see everything in print on the website!  (Yeah, I’m also kind of a tech nerd.  Geek may be a better name for it…)

There were some new posts on the forums that I added my two cents on, and some great hints that I tried to take advantage of.  Like the iPod Touch/ iPhone app that works with the program by giving voice cues when it’s time to run/ walk again.  Or the mp3 podcasts that Robert Ullrey created (which are FREE) that do the same thing, but with his own music library.  I think I may use a mixture of both.  I love the techno/club stuff that Mr. Ullrey uses, but I’m not always in the mood for it…  Sometimes I need a little bit of Rock to push me that last few hundred yards. 

So, what I’m hoping is that the newness of it all doesn’t wear out in a week and I let my fitness fall by the wayside again.  It’s too easy to let that happen.  I should know – I’ve been doing it for years!