5 freaking AM.

So with the 2 jobs, I won't have time to run this afternoon. I get off #1 at 3 and have to be at #2 by 4. So I got up at 5am this morning to go run. It was about 5:30 before I got there, but I still did it! I was super awake and cheery for a while, but now I'm starting to crash a bit. It's probably because I'm sitting at my desk. Anyway, it was pretty much identical to Monday's run, except for the ungodly hour.

2.22.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3 miles in 44:37. W/CD, 3.23 miles in 49:03. Walked at 3.6, ran every 4.5 mins for 1.5 min each at 5.5. Ave speed=3.9mph, ave pace=16.15.
Time: 44:37/49:03
Notes: FIVE A to the M. Watched Sister Wives season 1, ep 4 & 5 via netflix.

I get paid next Wednesday, and I am going to register for the Redbud Classic 10K that day. The race is April 15. It starts at 1pm, which I think is a bit weird, and I'm sort of disappointed that I can't find any info about getting a tshirt with registration. I want a tshirt from my first race. I'm definitely going to get a pic (I'm assuming they must sell them or something) so I can frame it with my medal. I'm not entirely sure what a realistic goal is for me for that race. I'd love to actually run the whole thing, but I'm fairly certain that that is out of the realm of possibility. I think I can run/walk most of it, but I've been told that because I run on a treadmill there's no way to predict how I'll run. I'm not sure if I should set a time goal  or just a goal to run as much of it as possible.

1 month of running

Today marks one month since I started running. I can feel a difference in my fitness, but I'm not seeing much of a physical difference yet. I think it's possible that my thighs are more muscular because my pants are all getting tight in that area, but my stomach is still flabby. I had planned to take more pics, but seeing as I'm bloated due to AF and I literally cried last night after seeing myself in a fitting room mirror at Target, I decided pics can wait a while.

As for the difference in fitness, when I first started I was running during the commericals in hulu shows. There are 4-5 during a typical show, and they last about 30 seconds. Now I am running every 4.5 minutes, for 1.5 minutes each time. Not a drastic improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. I've also done crunches and push ups most nights before going to bed. I'm also proud of myself for running a few times when I didn't want to (like today).

Here's my last gazillion runs:

2.11.12 (Saturday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:52 (not including warm up (WU) or cool down (CD). Walked at 3.6, ran 8x (every 5 minutes) at 5.5. With cool-down, 3.2 miles in 51:01, 3.7 ave mph, 17:04 pace.
Time: 45:52/51:01
Notes: I watched Grimm. :)

2.13.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:00. Walked at 3.6, ran 8x at 5.5. Every other run was 1.5 minutes, rest were 1 minute. W/CD, 3.20 miles in 50:00, 3.8mph, 16:39 pace.
Time: 45:00/50:00
Notes: Watched Once Upon A Time

2.15.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: repeat of Monday. 44:45; w/CD: 48:45, 3.2 miles, 3.8mph, 16:28 pace.
Time: 44:45/48:45
Notes: SVU

2.17.12 (Friday):
Distance: Repeat of Wednesday. 44:50; w/CD (cut CD short): 46:50, 3.08 miles, 3.9mph, 15:55 pace
Time: 44:50/46:50
Notes: Sister wives season 1 ep 2 & 3

2.20.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles in 43:25. Walked at 3.6, this time every run was 1.5 mins. Ran every 4.5 minutes at 5.5. I tried one run at 6.0 because I remember being more comfortable at the faster pace, but the treadmill tried to kill me and somehow amped up to 9. I jumped off before it succeeded. Anyway, w/CD: 3.2 miles in 48:30, 3.9mph, 16:40 pace.
Time: 43:25/48:30
Notes: Once Upon A Time-What Happened To Frederick.

I'd like to try adding in some cross-training, either through time on the elliptical in the gym or trying yoga on my wii fit that I've hardly ever used. I just got a second job though, so I'm not sure how crunched I'll be for time. The thought of running at 5:30am is repulsive to me, but I may have to do that. I also want to up my mileage. I think I'm going to start upping it the recommended 10% per week, along with upping the time I'm running by 30 seconds per run segment each week. I don't plan on being able to run the entire 10K on April 15, but I have a friend running it as well and I intend to beat his time. I'd like to be able to run the majority of it. Competition is good for the soul.

I need more post titles already. LOL.

Here's a recap of my last few runs.

2.6.12 (Monday):
Distance: started cool down at 2.45 miles because my stupid left shin hurt. I'd rather stop early than injure myself though. I got 2.63 miles in 43 minutes including the cool down. I walked at 3.6 and ran @ 5.5 6x for 1 min each.
Time: 43 even steven.
Notes: I didn't watch TV while cooling down, and I was still dizzy. Boo.

2.8.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:52 (not including warm up), 3.16 miles in 50:00 including cool down. I walked at 3.6 and ran every 5 minutes at 5.5 for 1 min (8x total). My pace was 16:59 and the average speed was 3.7 (all of that is including the cool-down).
Time: 45:52; 50:00
Notes: I think I'll start writing down what I watch since I watch Hulu or Netflix on my phone while running. Today I watched Sister Wives, Season 1 Ep 1. Hahahahaa those people are odd and it looks so scripted.

New shoes

I got some fancy-schmancy running shoes on Friday. The guy at the running store declared me a neutral runner, so I guess we'll go with that. I think that I overpronate, but we'll see how my feet like these shoes. I also learned that my feet are 1/2 size different-the left is a 6 and the right is a 6.5. Apparently, this is pretty common, but I think it's sort of cool. I ended up with a pair of Brooks Switch 4:

For future reference, the mileage on them starts with 2.4.12. Right now, that's a whole 3 miles! I've heard that I need to replace them everywhere from 300 to 700 miles. I've been lazy when it comes to tying my shoes since mid-HS or so, and for at least the past 10 years I have almost immediately laced my shoes up like this:

Thank you, bff Liz for teaching me that. I haven't tied my shoes in probably 13 or 14 years. So far I haven't done that to the new shoes, but their time is coming soon. The shoes in that last pic are my Saucony excursions that DH bought me last year. I guess I could count them as my first running shoes, but I bought them because they were cute and I needed new sneakers.

I ran again yesterday, and I sort of failed at maintaining the exact same pace. I'm going to have to be careful about that. Yesterday's run was the same as Thursday's, except I threw in 1 extra 1-min run @ 5.5 (bringing the total to 8 runs) and the 7th was actually 1.5 mins rather than 1.

2.4.12 (Saturday):
Distance: 3 miles with part of the warmup, but w/out the cool down in 45:30; with the cool-down it was 3.24 miles in 52:09. I burned ~334.3 calories, my average speed (with CD) was 3.7, and the average pace was 17:12.
Time: 45:30; 52:09

I need to figure out how to get my pace from the treadmill without including the cooldown. Is it ok to stop the treadmill for a min or so to get the stats from the display and then do a cool down? Speaking of the treadmill, I get dizzy when I stop it. When I googled that, it said to do a longer cool down. I've been extending the cool down with each run-this time it was nearly 8 minutes.  I decrease the speed about every 2 minutes or so, eventually stopping at 1.5mph. I'm going to ask for advice on the Nest's Health and Fitness board, but please comment if you have any recommendations.

Great run

Last night after work I ran again. It was one of my better runs! I can really feel a difference in my fitness level, even after only 2 weeks. My hip never hurt this time, although I did feel some twinges in my left shin that I really hope are not the beginning of shin splints. I ran across some exercises to prevent them the other day, but I'm going to need to google it again to figure out where I found them.

2.2.12 (Thursday):
Distance: 3 miles w/out warm up/cool down; 3.19 miles with cool down. My warm up was walking to the car to get my headphones and then over to the gym. My ave speed was 3.7, my pace was 17:23. I allegedly burned 323 calories (how accurate are those things, anyway?). I ran at 5.5 seven times (approximately every 5 mins) for a minute each time. I walked at 3.6. I actually had to finish last Sunday's episode of Once Upon A Time in my kitchen!
Time: 44:30/51:02 with cool down.

DH and I are going either tonight or tomorrow to get fitted for running shoes. I'm pretty excited. I also found the Fab Ab February ab plan thingy on Pinterest, and I started that last night. Holding a plank for 20 seconds is hard! Anyway, here is the plan. The image is blurry, which makes my OCD twitchy, but I can't fix it unfortunately.

I'm going to try this running thing.

I've decided to start running for a few reasons. One, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up in May, and since I'm likely to revert to the loser I was in HS as soon as I see my classmates, I might as well have an awesome body to help lessen the humiliation. Two, I want to firm up. I want to look at my body and not think I'm flabby. I'm only 4'11", so every pound shows on me. Three, DH needs to lose weight, and I hope that if I start running, he'll start to like it as well and join me. Four, I want to be proud of myself for something. I doubt I'll ever win a race, but maybe I could place in the top 10 of my age group or something.

I actually ran quite a bit in September of last year. I started walking with some friends, and we did 4 miles 2-3 times per week. Unfortunately, things changed and I stopped walking with them. I just started walking/running again almost 2 weeks ago, and this time I'm by myself. I don't live in a very safe neighborhood and I don't have a gym membership, so I've mostly been running on the treadmills at my apt complex's little gym. Apparently a lot of people find treadmills boring, but I just use my hulu plus app on my phone to watch tv while I exercise. I walk during the show and run during the commercials. I call it the hulu exercise plan lol. It works fairly well for me.

Here is a summary of my runs to date:

1.20.12 (Friday):
Distance: 3 miles (Treadmill)
Ran 4x for 30 seconds each at 6.1, walked at 3.5 for the rest
Time: I didn't write down the time for this one, but I remember having to go longer than the 45 minute Once Upon A Time episode. We'll just say it was 55 minutes.

1.22.12 (Sunday):
Distance: probably 1 mile (Lake Hefner)
HOLY WIND BATMAN. Mike and I decided to walk at Lake Hefner on the lake side in 30mph sustained winds with stronger gusts. There were a few times the wind actually pushed me. We mostly walked, but I ran 1x for about 50yds. Hello, resistance.
Time: Less than an hour.

1.23.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles (Treadmill)
Walked at 3.7, ran 6x at 6.2 for 30 secs-1 min (walked during the show, ran during the commercials). This is the day I hurt my hip. Stupid me decided that I would challenge myself to finish the 3 miles before the end of the tv show on hulu. My hip started hurting and I decided to run through it. It still hurts when I run a week later. Note to self: IF IT HURTS, STOP RUNNING IDIOT.
Time: Well, I did finish before the end of the TV show, so we'll say it was 43 minutes.

1.25.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3.17 miles (Treadmill)
Walked at 3.5, ran 2x at 6.0 for 30 seconds. Left thigh/hip sore. Did a longer warm up & cool down (3.17 total; 295 calories; ave mph 3.4 including cool down)
Time: 50:45

1.27.12 (Friday):
Distance: 3.21 miles (Treadmill)
Distance includes 6 minute cool down. Burned 304.5 calories. Walked at 3.7, ran 3x at 6.0 for 30-45 seconds.
Time: 53:20

1.29.12 (Sunday):
Distance: 2.04 miles (Treadmill)
Distance includes warm up and cool down. Mix of walking at 3.5 with (4) 1 minute runs at 5.5. Concentrated on having a short stride. Stopped at 2 miles because of hip pain (hey, I'm getting smarter).
Time: 34:44

1.31.12 (Tuesday):
Distance: 3.06 miles (Lake Hefner)
Mike and I walked at Lake Hefner. He actually seemed to enjoy it! I'm so glad. We walked slower for 5 mins for our warm up and cool down. We jogged several times for 30 secs-1min. I think the pace for the jogs was around 5.5-it was hard to tell. I used the MapMyRun app. Apparently I shouldn't hold it in my hand when swinging my arms, since it told me that my top speed was 9.4mph (unless that was when DH and I raced? We didn't go far or very fast lol). I thoroughly enjoyed this run.
Time: 54:23 (not too bad, esp since DH isn't used to running more than 30 secs and I doubt he ever goes above 3)

And now for the before pics. I debated about whether or not to put the sports bra ones on here or not. I'm naturally thin, so I think that if I only use the shirt ones, I won't see the difference in my abs. Also, it is unbelievably hard to get a clear iphone pic.
Before, with shirt:

Before, without a shirt:

I need goals if I'm going to stay motivated. Therefore, I want to run at least the half marathon at the Dallas White Rock Marathon on December 2, 2012. I also want to run (not walk, run) the Warrior Dash on June 2. I'm scared of fire and I think DH will have to help me over the flaming hay bales, but I'm going to finish it. I also want to walk/run the 10K at the Redbud Classic on April 15. I'm not sure if that is pushing myself too quickly though, so I may end up doing the 5K instead. I can be incredibly competitive, and I don't want to hurt myself again. Also, I'm going to look into trail running, since that seems interesting. I'm going to the running store this weekend to get fitted for proper shoes.