I used to be a pretty decent runner. I could do three or four miles without too much trouble. But as life and work and kids happened, somewhere along the way I quit running. It's the only form of exercise that has ever truly worked for me, meaning it's the only thing that truly shaves off the pounds. Another thing that's kept me grounded is my writing career. Writing, editing, marketing and selling books is a time-consuming proposition. I've often thought that if I could only spend a quarter of the time I spend writing on the running trail, I'd be fit enough for my liking. So all these things have gotten in the way and doing something to change that dynamic has been on my mind for some time now.
My husband Dan is a huge runner, although he's on hiatus right now recovering from achilles tendonitis. He told me a while back about a program called Couch to 5K, which takes you from couch potato to 5K runner in eight weeks. It's an interesting concept that involves intervals of running and walking, increasing time and distance over the course of the program. I decided to give it a whirl. Best of all, my kids decided to do it with me. Yay! They are at the ages now (Emily is 14 and Jake is almost 11) where it's difficult to find things we can do together where everyone is having fun. We did the first workout today and it was so fun. There was lots of laughing, especially when Emily was running circles around me. She's such a show off! Jake did really well, and kept right up with us, surging far ahead of me during the running portions. And I heard lots of details about their school days that I might've missed if we hadn't taken that half hour to spend together.
We made a pinky promise to not tell Dan that we'd started the program because he's been a total NUDGE asking when are we going to do it and how are we going to do it and where are we going to do it. He's too needy. The pinky promise lasted until dinner when Emily blew it. And she thought Jake would blab on his way to baseball practice with Dan driving him. NOT! SHE was the weakest link! Now he's going to be all up in our grill wanting to know every detail!
So, we're off and running. I'll let you know how it goes! If you've been looking for a magic bullet, check out the link. Maybe we can all do it together!
