gLee!

So I must confess... I love the tv show Glee, especially the music :)  Well, yesterday I went to go see Glee the Concert Movie in 3D... and it was amazing!  I already had some Glee songs downloaded on my iTunes, but when I got home I added quite a few more.  I've been listening to them all day.  And the best decision I made today?  Having the Glee songs as my playlist for running... AKA 3 miles of awesomeness.  Life is GOOD!

I had all intentions of getting up early to run since it was BEAUTIFUL today, but it didn't happen, so I ran at the gym this afternoon.  I start back teacher workdays this week, so I guess I better get used to being up early again. Students start late next week and those mean SUPER early days.  Like, before the sun comes up kinda early.  Let's see, the last time I got up that early was June 10.  The last day of school!

After I ran tonight, I timed it just right and went to the dance aerobics class.  The class got a new release soundtrack with new moves, so I really wanted to go :)  And my friend Claire was there too, so we tried our best to stay coordinated!

A few minutes ago, I got up after sitting down on the floor for a little while, and my legs almost gave out!  Sooo I think tomorrow I'll probably be a little sore.  2 hours of hard core cardio will do that to you!  BUT I had some rockin' endorphins this evening :)

Perfect

...by P!nk is the song of the day :)

Now that I've worked my way up to 4 miles, I want to focus on running more and walking less.  Today's plan was to run 3 miles total, and running the first mile without stopping on the treadmill.  And that actually happened :)  Then I felt ambitious towards the end and ran the last half mile without stopping!  Wahoo!

That's all I've got for now.  I thought of something clever to write on here while I was running, but I have now forgotten it... oops!  My brain power is low at the moment, so I'll add more later, and if I remember whatever that is ;)

Everlasting Love

...by Gloria Estefan is the song of the day :)

The weather has been SO nice the past few days!  This morning I was finally able to run outside :)  It was 65/70 degrees, which was awesome!  And I realized it was the first day I've run outside with my new shoes - made a big difference. 

Today's distance:  4 MILES!  :)  I'll be honest, I'm pretty impressed with myself.  I think I'm going to stick with 3 or 4 miles for the next couple weeks.  Don't want to burn myself out too early!  I'll work on walking less and running more, and once I get that where I want it, we'll add distance come August.

Where I run is about a 2 mile loop, so therefore I went around twice... I guess with being a math teacher, that helped me figure it out ;)  The first loop I did the set interval I've been doing the past week or so.  By the time I did the second loop, it had warmed up and I was getting hot, so I just ran and walked when I felt up for it.  I kind of went by my songs - run a song, walk a song.  Worked out pretty well.  I was still able to run a good chunk of the second half.

A couple days ago, I got this thing called Nike+.  You put a chip in your shoe, and it connects to your iPod.  It calculates how far you went, the time, and how many calories.  It's pretty sweet!  And then there is a voice that tells you when you're half way, and it counts down the last 400 meters.  Then you upload it to the Nike website and it keeps a log of all your runs and times. It will be fun to see the progress!

Oh, and while I was running, I ran into (ha, no pun intended) two friends of mine, Sarah and Brooke, who are also running in the same half marathon as me in November.  So it was a nice surprise to see them :)

Until next time!

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

...by Elton John was my favorite song that popped up on shuffle on my iPod today.  Listened to it 3 times in a row.  Loved it.

"You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes was a close second place.  :)

And the rest of my songs on my playlist are nothing like either of those (they are mostly fast pop songs), but it's fun to mix it up!  If you know me well, you know my iPod has the most random songs ever.  So more insight of that to come.

I ran on the treadmill today - 3.2 MILES!!! I'm so excited :) And it wasn't bad until the last interval or so!  YAY PROGRESS!

PS- Watching some of the World Cup games this afternoon while running made me feel like I was doing nothing in comparison to their running up and down that humongous field for 2 hours!  Made it feel like a breeze.

PPS- I made my chocolate milk ahead of time, stuck it in the freezer while I worked out, and came back to get it.  Delicious!  It was like chocolate snow cream.  Definitely doing this from here on out!

Day 4

So it's been a few days since I've updated.  Nothing too exciting today .  Today's the 4th time I've run.  It's super hot outside, so I went to the gym and did the treadmill.  I moved up to 2:30 min run, 1:30 walk and went for 2.5 miles (the other times I had done 2).  It was annoying to try and figure out which speed to set the treadmill to for walking and running.  I had an idea of what to set it at, but I was wiggling it around the whole time to try and find the best one.  Still never got it quite right.  AKA why running outside is better.  I just didn't get up early enough to make that happen ;)  I didn't run this weekend, so it had been like 4 or so days without exercising, so it took a little more effort than I was used to.  My legs only felt like jello a little bit when I finished.  

It seemed to take forever to run today, but I knew that right after I finished I was going to have the joy of hanging out with this little guy!  Cooper is my #1 biggest fan and supporter :)  ...and his mom, Meg, is a close #2 ;)

Day 2

July 4, 2011

Happy Independence Day!

I figured I would take a day off between runs so my body can get used to this whole new idea of running!  I was a little bit sore yesterday, but it wasn't bad at all.

Today I was a little more successful about getting up on time to go run this morning :)  I went back to the same trail I did for my first run.  This time I did 2:30 minutes running, and 2 minutes walking.  It was a little bit more challenging to run today.  I'm wondering if Day 1 run went so easily because I was running on some adrenaline because I was getting started on my new goal.  Today my muscles are still recovering from the run the other day.  But regardless, I made it through and was able to stick to my intervals.

Since it's a holiday, the trail wasn't as crowded, so that was nice.  But one thing that is fun about running is being able to do some people-watching.  Didn't see any interesting or extreme characters today, but I will definitely keep you posted if I do ;)

Day 1

July 2, 2011

It's summer in North Carolina which means its HOT and HUMID.  Yuck.  I'm not a big fan of the treadmill, so I'd rather run outside.  And it helps me to see how far I've run in person versus seeing a number on a treadmill.  Therefore, I have 2 options- run really early in the morning, or late at night. I'm weird and hate having to take more than one shower per day.  I voted to go on an early run so I can then take a shower and be on with my day!  And since I'm a teacher, I have the summer off, so my schedule is pretty flexible (which will be nice to get a jump start on this running thing while I have lots of time).

There's a good 2 mile paved trail five minutes from where I live, so Katie said that'd be a good place to start (and it's pretty flat!).  I had all intentions of waking up at 7am, and running by 7:30.  Well.......... the snooze button won me over and I didn't get to the trail until 8:15am.  By this time it was already starting to warm up outside. Once I got finished with my run, I realized it IS worth getting up early to stay cool :)  So next time I'm going win over the snooze button.

I talked to a few people who are runners and they suggested I start out by doing a run with intervals.  That means __ minutes running, then ___ minutes walking.  I had no idea what times to start with, so I opted to do 2 minutes run, 2 minutes walk.  And I was able to do it the whole 2 miles!  Wahoo!  For SOME reason, the 2 minutes running seemed a lot longer than the 2 minutes walking.  What's up with that?! ;)  I actually enjoyed the run and it didn't seem too difficult.  I think part of it was that I had hyped myself up to be excited about it, and of course my music helps!  There was some singing involved - only of course when there was no one around me ;)  I still didn't want to push myself too hard and have my body freak out and wonder what I'm doing to it!  So I kept to my intervals.

The trail I was on is a very popular one in town.  I saw people walking, people biking, people jogging, people running, hardcore people running with their water belts, and those hardcore people again (because they lapped me, one girl lapped me twice! whew!).  Oh, and cute dogs :)  When I was running, I realized that it helps keep me going to see that I'm not the only one running!

A lot of the half marathon training programs suggest you be able to run 3 miles straight, and then start the program.  So my goal by the end of July is going to be able to run those 3 miles.  I think I'm going to slowly increase the minutes I run, and decrease the time I walk.

Run #1 - check!