Can I run a 10K by the end of November?

My friend Michelle sent me an e-mail asking me if I wanted to run a 10K with her the weekend before Thanksgiving. I should point out that Michelle has already run a 10K, and is much tinier and faster than big giant me. Love her to pieces, but I think she might get awfully bored running with me.

My first thought was "Um, are you insane? I'm only running like 2 or 2.5 miles these days. I can't do SIX."

The more I talked about it with my other little runner-friends, the more realistic it actually kind of seems. I just finished up week 7 of c25k, and in two weeks I'll be at the end of that program.

There's a "Bridge to 10K" program that is a 6-week program, so *technically* I'd have plenty of time to get into gear and be running the times/distances needed to prepare for a 10K. It's similar to c25k, I've looked over it... and I know I would be able to run for 10 minutes, then walk... times 4. Who's to say I couldn't finish that program?

My friend Kelli also mentioned that once you're up to 3 miles, you can do two 3-mile runs a week, then one "long" run-- adding 1/2 mile each week. Quite frankly, I'll be happy to just get comfortable running a 3-mile distance again. I may take a week between the two programs and just do 3-mile runs; not focusing on time but on distance. We'll see, I'll have to get all nerdy and plot it out on the calendar ; )

I'm happy to say I've finished up week 7 today! There's a counter at the bottom of the map page for that 10K, and it's 70 days. 10 weeks. Why the heck not?

"Rungry". This is a word I first saw my friend Kristi use on her blog about the hunger you experience once you start running a lot. I can't tell you for sure whether it's runger or PMS or some horrid combination of the two, but WOWSERS I have just been sooo hungry this week. I'm doing my best to keep up on the healthy snacks, and get plenty of water... but I was at the mall yesterday and had that "must have pretzel... must have pretzel... must have salty delicious pretzel and real sugary coca-cola" feeling. I gave in because you know what? I've been kicking ass at this whole running gig.


Let's talk about the scale.

So back on August 1, I was hanging tough at 235. That first week I decided to get myself in gear, the scale went down 6 pounds... which I know was not all fat loss, but when you go from "eating like a pimply teenager" to watching what you put into your mouth, there are some changes-for-the-better. The following week the scale went down 3 pounds, and I was ringing in at 226. Nowadays I'm hanging right at 224-225. I can definitely feel the changes where the fit of my clothing is concerned! HOORAY! I better, with all this running.

I've not been getting to the gym on a regular schedule like I'd like to, but I hit a point last week where I just really felt like my body needed a break. I'm all for the "I CAN DO IT!" mentality, but I also think we should listen to our bodies and give them a day (or a few days) off once in a while when the fatigue is really setting in. I was working a lot too, and we had the kids' first week of school, getting started in extra-curriculars and getting schedules down took precedence over me getting myself into the car and to the gym. My husband was out of town and I had some mom-family-stuff to do. Excuses? Yes... but reality. I managed to keep on my running schedule, which I kind of consider to be my bare minimum.

This last week, I can tell that I'm missing my strength training at the gym. I'd like to get back to that next week. I need to stay POWERFUL!

Speaking of powerful, my little cheerleader-man has been out in full force. He's just so cute, cheering on anyone who's running, running along with them. Today we were walking at the same part of the trail and he introduced himself-- his name is Yung and he came to America from Vietnam in 1975.