My quest to become a runner...

So I'm on Week 2 of the program... and things are going well!! I waited until last week to start since cheerleading had finally slowed way down and I had more time after school. I have tried to make myself look forward to running, and have even caught myself in the midst of a crazy day anticipating jumping on the treadmill and pounding away the stress. I have also found that the key is to always keep a bag of gym clothes in my car. For example, today I was going to go to the gym. Then I went and did some errands and pretty much forgot about going to the gym (because I'm pretty much an airhead and just forget these things...), so then when I remembered about the gym, I thought, "Ugh...now I have to go home, change, and then come back out." But NO!! Lightbulb! I already had the clothes in the back of my car, along with my shoes (apparently I anticipated my airheadedness at some point this past week), so after my errands I drove my airheaded little self to the gym and jumped on that treadmill, feeling like a rockstar.

Please do not hear that I mistakingly think that I am a runner now.

I know I am not. But I am at least sticking with it. And that is far more than I can say about some other healthy habits in my life at the moment...

During Week 2, I have increased from running 60 seconds, walking 90 seconds (in Week 1) to running 90 seconds, walking 2 minutes. You are supposed to warm up with a brisk 5 minute walk, and then alternate these intervals for the next 20 minutes.

Today, after the 20 minute run/walk session, I was even fueled to keep running for the additional 5 minutes! (I always set the treadmill at 30 minutes, so after the intervals there is usually 5 minutes left to cool down.) I am starting to feel really great after my workouts, instead of just painfully exhausted and sore.


Next week is crazy though. Here's the breakdown:
1. Brisk walk for 5 minutes
2. Jog for 90 seconds
3. Walk for 90 seconds
4. Jog for 3 mintues
5. Walk for 3 minutes
6. Repeat #2-5.

Oh man.

Also, I would love to eventually run outside. However, these timed sessions prevent that from happening because I don't own a digital watch (and I REALLY don't feel like trying to keep up with a secondhand on a regular watch), nor do I own one of those cool little GPS thing-a-ma-bobs to track distance.

Maybe once I become a real runner (read: can handle more than 3 minutes at a time) I will treat myself to some running gadgets.

Yeah, I'll let you know when that happens.