Two Major Accomplishments This Week

Even though it wasn't my weigh-in day, I had to sneak a peek on the scale Monday. And the number I saw was like an old friend who just appeared at your door after a long absence: 199.6. I'm under 200 lbs now.

That means I've lost 12 pounds since starting in March, and finally hurdled over the psychological barrier keeping me from thinking any progress was actually progress. Under 200 is a big deal to me. I've crossed that line both ways more than once, and it's a journey I never want to take again.

I worried it was a fluke, so I checked the scale again this morning: 199.4. Whew. Still under 200.

This is also my first week of Couch to 5K. I'm joining the shredheads in training for a 5K at a future, yet-to-be-determined date. I started on Saturday, and finished my third run this afternoon. For the first week, the requirements are a 5 minute warm-up walk, then 8 intervals of running for 1 minute and walking for 90 seconds, ending with another 5 minute walk.

I've tried something like this before. Years ago, in college, I tried running half the length of the track at the rec center (about a minute), then walking half the track. I couldn't even run a quarter of the track without gasping for breath. My heart would pound, my lungs would burn, and my body felt heavy - I never continued my program.

But I made it through all three runs this week. It still wasn't easy: usually around the sixth interval I'd get a pain in my side, but I kept going. Today's was the hardest of all, possibly because it was midday and humid. The other two were in the evening when it was cool and dry.

I'm still adjusting to the fact that I've completed week one. I've never been a runner - I hated everything about it when I was younger - yet here I am training for a 5K. I don't know if I'll get to the point of running for 30 minutes straight, but even running 1 minute at a time is a great start.