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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.

Here are some photos.

And here are some highlights:

• Tami and I went snorkeling around the reef by the resort. We swam super far offshore and ended up hanging out with and petting 3-foot sea turtles! They were so beautiful and serene.
•  The Princeville Resort Presidential Suite is pretty bomb. On the first floor, living room, dining room, balcony (with breath-taking view of the Hanalei Bay), full kitchen and half bath. On the second floor, giant bathroom, office nook, giant bedroom and dressing room/closet. Full maid service during the day (they even washed our dishes!) and turn-down service at night.
• Hanging out at the resort’s beach is pretty bomb, too. You get lots of fluffy towels, comfy beach chairs, ice water and waiter service. Mai-Tais are yummy, especially when you don’t have to leave the beach to get them.
• Due to the time difference, we woke up the first morning quite early. On the second morning, Tami got us up with the assurance that the sun would be rising soon. Gene made coffee and we readied ourselves for breakfast. As I was sitting on the couch, still somewhat zombified, Gene realized that it wasn’t 6:30am … it was actually 3:30am. Tami was officially deemed a nut and we went back to bed for 3 hours. Heh! Definitely the highlight of my entire trip
• We went to visit Larry and Darlene, friends of Tami’s, on the other side of the island. They have a beautiful house in the jungle with big picture windows and a wrap-around porch. Darlene also makes a killer crab-stuffed mushroom.
• ABC Store is your one-stop touristy shopping experience! Aloha shirts, dresses, t-shirts, jewelry, lotion, macadamia nuts, you name it. I ended up getting two free coffee mugs for spending as much as I did there!
• The town of Hanalei has a very cool shopping center. Their Savage Pearls store (featuring Tahitian Black Pearls) made me channel Mom and want to go nutso. Luckily, I restrained myself. I did, however, pick up some amazingly cute and comfortable Croc wedges at a shop down the way. This place is also notable for the fact that you can get breakfast for $3.75 and coffee for $1 (as opposed to the $8.65 for a cup of coffee charged by the resort!).
• We drove way, way up North on the island to The End Of The Road and explored lava tubes and more beaches. It is truly gorgeous up there. It’s also fun to check out all the different houses and estates. Almost every house is up on stilts there. And some of these houses are huge, sprawling, 2,000-sq.-ft. affairs.
• I got a killer tan.
• Our flight back from Honolulu to LAX was cancelled. Luckily we were able to get on a later flight. That also meant that we had 7 hours to kill. We took the bus to the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu (which must be one of the biggest malls in the world). This place was HUGE. Since we had all our carry-on luggage with us, Tami grabbed a Foodland shopping cart and loaded it up. We then proceeded to push that cart throughout two levels of the mall, including stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, Chanel, Dior, Coach, Fendi, Hermes and Gucci. We would open the door and park our plastic shopping cart loaded with luggage right next to the security guard at each store while we went shopping for fancy-schancy wallets and shoes. Quite an experience!

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am very grateful to Tami and Gene for it. Having caught a cold halfway through, however, I’m also happy to be back home to recover!

Sign up for Sprint’s SERO plan. SERO stands for Sprint Employee Referral Offer. Their basic plans:

• $30/mo. for 500 anytime minutes
• $49.99/mo. for 1250 anytime minutes
• $99.99/mo. for 2500 anytime minutes
• Nights and Weekends starting at 7pm ($10/mo. extra if you want to start at 6pm)
• Unlimited mobile to mobile
• Unlimited text messages free if you sign up by 2/16 (regularly $10/mo.)
• Unlimited data

That’s right. The service that T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon charge an arm and a leg for is FREE with Sprint SERO. I got a new Treo 755p and I’ve got all the web browsing, email and Google Maps I can handle with 500 anytime minutes for $30/mo. It’s insanity.

To sign up, go to http://sprint.com/sero and enter savings@sprintemi.com as the employee email address. It’s only valid for a new line of service and you can port your old phone number over if you want to keep it.

(Also, Sprint’s coverage is far better than T-Mobile’s in my area. YMMV, however. But give it a try. You have 14 days to return the phone and cancel the whole deal.)