Couch to 5K - Week 5 Update

I have entered week 5 of my Couch to 5K challenge.  I had to run alone this morning because my friend, Laura, is having shin splints and would like to still be able to walk and not kill herself just to say she ran a 5K, so she chose to stop.  She's bummed.  I'm bummed.  And surprised.  I thought for sure I would be the one to need to stop first.  :)  But I applaud her for knowing when to quit.  Now if I can just convince her to let me quit!  :)

She met me at the gym this morning and she did the cross ramp while I ran.  I didn't want to.  I wanted to go back and do the cross ramp with her.  But I didn't.  I ran.  This week gets harder.  Today, here's what I did:

5 minute warm up walk (as usual)
5 minute jog
3 minute walk
5 minute jog
3 minute walk
5 minute jog
5 minute cool down walk (this isn't actually in the plan, but I always do a cool down walk)

Whew!  I have to admit it was hard.  But I did it!  And even though Laura didn't run with me, she was still there to cheer me on and high five me when I finished.  And then we always walk the track a few times and then stretch.  Talking the whole time.  Seriously we can both talk and listen to each other at the same time.  It's weird.  :)

Wednesday I'm supposed to run 8 minutes, walk 5, run 8.  I'm not sure I'm going to do that yet.  I might repeat today's intervals for the rest of this week, then step it up next week.  So it will take longer to reach the 5K point, but I need to listen to my body and take it easy when I need to.

Which has me questioning the whole Couch to 5K concept.  The idea is to be able to go from being a "couch potato" (ie. doing nothing, not an exercising kind of person) to being able to run a 5K in 9 weeks.  I am an exerciser.  I have been exercising pretty regularly for about 2 years  now.  So if I'm having a hard time with this, how is someone who is mostly sedentary expected to do it?   Hmmmmm.  Something for me to ponder. 

Is it just because I hate to run?  (Yeah, I'm back to that.)  Actually hate is probably too strong a word.  I'd rather do another form of exercise and take it easy on my joints.  Like the cross ramp.  I can get an excellent work out on the cross ramp and not kill my knees and my hips and my ankles.

Okay, enough whining. 

I'm going to continue doing this Cto5K thing as long as I can.  As long as my body will allow.  Because, like Laura, I'd rather be able to walk and play with my kids than to say I ran a 5K and now I can't walk.  It doesn't mean that much to me.  Just to say that I did it.

Will I be proud if I can run a 5K?  Absolutely!

But will I do it at the expense of ruining my body?  No way!

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