Week 1-Workout 1

This is my journey. I recently lost about 10 pounds, and I was doing pretty well. Hanging out on my elliptical in the evenings for a few minutes - maybe doing a workout DVD if I'm feeling really adventurous. My doctor even gave me praise and told me to "keep up the good work." Then I hit a wall. Bad food started tasting so good again, my favorite shows just happened to come on during my workout time, and I was tired... certainly too tired to slip on my running shoes and hit the treadmill.

Expecting a holiday splurge on fair food and Ted Drewe's this 4th of July weekend, I was challenged by my two friends, Jen and Melissa, to pick up the pieces again.

• Introducing Jen: Jen, aka Frito, lived across the street from me in high school and spent our college years only blocks away. Has always been known as the "athletic one" due to high school softball and basketball and college softball. Now a Jr. High teacher, she is affectionately known as "coach" to many of her kids.
• Introducing Melissa: Melissa, aka Melis', grew up with me from Jr. High through High School. Went to college in Missouri where she met her husband, Nathan. Has been known to love adventurous foods and is a total health nut. Recently had an AMAZING weight loss and can now stand in one leg of her old pants.

Melis' and Jen started talking about all things running - what shoes to wear, those rejuvenating things to eat in the middle of a race to keep you going, do you like running skirts?

Confession: I have never been able to run a mile in under 10 minutes and can count on one hand the number of times I have done it without walking.

Melis' said she was the same way. Remember that day they announced that it was time to run the mile in PE? For us, it was the worst day of the year. Everything after that day seemed downhill. Now Melis' can run 7 miles! How can she do it? Better yet, how can she actually look forward to it and enjoy it? She told me about a program she used called "Couch to 5K" and how easy it was to get going. Jen even said that running didn't always come easy to her, and that C25K was adjust your body to running.

Still a little skeptical that I could be a runner, I thought about it the entire way home. Could I be the kind of person who could run for relaxation? Could I finally turn into someone who said things like "a salad sounds so good" and "I wish I had a glass of water instead of this diet soda."

So I looked up Couch to 5K, or C25K, online. It's a 9 week program that you begin with 20 minute workouts, 3 times a week. At first you run for 1 minute and walk for 1.5 minutes through the workout. (5 minutes walking warm-up and cool-down) As the 9 weeks progresses you run more and walk less. By the end you can do your first 5K. So I downloaded a program for my iPod that gives me a bell and a nice woman telling me when to walk and run as I listen to music. Feeling the guilt of my less than perfect dinner setting in, I decided there was no time like the present to dust off my shoes and go for my first run...

At first 60 seconds flew by, and 90 seconds felt like a nice long break between runs. Then I got about half done and started to feel the burn. I'm not gonna lie - just over that point I felt like I wasn't going to make it. Then I pulled myself back together and finished it up. I'm hoping my first day will truly be the worst and that it will get easier from here, but I am determined to see myself run a mile without dreading it. So join me in the Couch to 5K plan if you are ready to take back your body and do it until you love it! If you can't run it, walk it with me!

Thanks Melis' and Jen for giving me the kick in the pants this weekend that I didn't expect but truly needed. I love you both and hope to run beside you one of these days.