Running: Week Two

I read about the Couch-to-5k Running Plan over a year ago but wasn’t inspired to start it until I heard that a friend of mine, a busy working mom of two, had run the 5k Wine Run April 13th. I started week one April 14th but training was interrupted by my Chicago trip. So I re-started week one last week and have moved on to week two this week.

My previous experience with running consisted of jogging with Rick at 5 in the morning, running until I could run no more and hating every minute of it. This program starts off with running and walking and is much more tolerable. Listening to audiobooks while I run even makes it enjoyable. Getting the motivation to get out of bed is difficult but I’ve found that if I get out of bed with the intention of simply walking for 5 minutes to warm up and then stretching, the rest follows fairly painlessly.

I had been running in men’s New Balance 507s that I’d bought a couple years ago and had never really used. They were a little too long and made my feet sore. So today, I went Running Warehouse in SLO to get proper shoes. There, a saleswoman named Tara put me in some neutral shoes and got me on a treadmill to video my gait. I was over-pronating, which is a common problem. She put me in four or five different pairs of shoes, videotaping me in each one, until we found a pair that was comfy and supportive. It was a fun experience and I appreciated the time she took with me to find the right pair. I ended up buying a pair of Brooks Ariel shoes and will try them out tomorrow morning.

Gene and I are planning on running a marathon with Train To End Stroke, and organization local to California. I’m going to their information session on the 17th in Sherman Oaks. The Pasadena marathon is November 16th, which is about 6 months from then. Hopefully that’ll be enough time to train. In the meantime, I’ll continue the Couch-to-5k plan at a double pace.