Well I did it! I ran, but I also ate too much!

As I said yesterday, I've been in a funk for no reason that I can rationally think of. So, I decided to try running. It was a perfect day for it and I have the perfect 1 mile path just outside my door - quite literally, so why not?

I about gave up the idea twice. First because my teen was still in bed and I had no one to keep an eye on the 6 year old for the 20 minutes or so I would be out of the house. Then, I was baking and readying things at home since I would be gone in the late afternoon for my younger son's speech therapy. But, I got the teen up, got to a stopping point with the baking of the bread and so I went outside. The last 'almost quit' moment came when one of our older neighbors was outside mowing his back yard which backs up to the lake I was planning on running around. I didn't want to look stupid in my attempt to run in front of our 80 year old still very fit neighbor. But then I thought, "What are you afraid of?" And so I started.

I should have walked a bit first and definitely shouldn't have just 'started' but that's what I did. My plan was to run down past the boathouse to the dam and then turn around and come back to the little circle just behind our house. I've marked this before with my GPS gizmo to know that this is exactly 1 mile and it's mostly flat. As flat as it gets for this part of Maryland anyway.

Since I would be running to the dam and back it also gave me an opportunity to quit if it got too hard. I could stop at a half mile if I wanted and walk back to cool down.

So, I started running. It felt great at first and I wondered if my pace was OK. I said hi to everyone I passed to gauge whether or not I was pushing myself too hard or not. That lake is always full of walkers, bikers and runners, so I said hi to about a half dozen people to the dam and about the same on the way back.

When I got to halfway, I stopped, tied my shoe that had just come undone and looked at my time. Then I realized I could keep going and within 20-30 seconds I started running back. I again was trying to make sure my pace was maintainable and find my stride. I knew I was going slow, but I didn't want to have to stop. I passed by one of the same ladies walking her dog on the way back as I did on the way there and she said, "Nice day for a run." And I said back, "Yep, and it's my first time running ever." Which is mostly true as it's been about 14 years! She said, "Looking really good!"

I then rounded the corner of the lake and went over the little foot bridge and got to the benches and had about a hundred feet to go. I sprinted the last 100 feet or so just to really stretch my legs and feel I was running, not just slowly jogging. That got me huffing and puffing, but my time was about 11:40. I say about as it takes time to get the phone in and out of the pouch on my waist.

I came home and felt great. I had a drink of water and when I got up I could feel the hip flexors. This morning I feel it in my hip flexors and a wee bit in the back of my right calf and my left hamstring. While I exercise frequently, I use my muscles differently. My body was probably like, "What the heck did you just do?"

And, of course, one of the reasons I had been avoiding running was my bladder incontinence problem. I made sure I went pee before running and then wore a pad to soak up any leaks. And I did leak, but it is getting better. I used to leak with every step I took while trying to run. Now it's every few. I'll still probably need to have surgery, but I'm glad to see it's getting better. The pad contained the leaking for that short run and with running near home and short distances, I should be OK until I can get the surgery in the fall.

I think I will keep running in the mix of things. I'll do step M-W-F, strength training M-W and Saturday (with only sometimes being able to do Mondays) and then I can do a bit of running on Sunday- T-Th. I would like to make the 5K (3.1 miles) something I can do regulary and easily. With all these trails around me, it should be easy enough to do too. And now that the weather is cool with low humidity, easy too. When it gets to the heat of summer I can do it early in the morning. I love mornings anyway. Winter? Probably no... but that's OK, I'll find indoor things to do in the dark months.

But then I go and ruin my good day by eating a bit too much at breakfast and then eating 2 cookies in the evening while making the kids cookies. Made it a maintenance day in the end and kept the scale up this morning by eating carbs in the evening. I will never learn, I swear!

OK, but the funk I think is gone!!! That's something right there!!!

Stats for 4/6/12:

Highest weight: 275  Now: 173.6