run 4 miles

Now to push for four. My goal for September is 6.

Day two of my goal to run four miles in 45 minutes or less.

My pup, Toulouse and I had a great time today. He saw a couple other dogs which he had to say hi to as we passed.

We had a few hills and some slopes.

I did not look at the time one single bit today. I wanted to do my best regardless of the outcome. If I keep at it, I know I will get there.

I actually completed it today in 50 minutes. That is 5 minutes shy of my goal.

I just put on my itouch and kept my goal in sight of completion. The time was on my mind but I kept thinking today was a step towards my goal.

It helps to listen to a variety of music. Today I listened to:

Linkin Park, Sublime, The Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Syd Barrett, Santana, Reba McEntire, Phil Collins, Rooney, and more…

The key is to only work my heart an avg of 60 minutes. Running or walking more than that could be harmful.

Even at the gym, cardiovascular workouts should not exceed 60 minutes.

I completed four miles in 90 minutes, had no pain, even had energy for more.

The military doctors said I would never be able to walk another mile for the rest of my life.

I want to this for my health and the knowledge that I never gave up. For years, it was not even a possibility. I would be in pain just by lifting a gallon of milk from the refrigerator. I could never stand up out of bed, more like roll off it and slowly get up just enough to make it to the bathroom.

So my goal is to run four miles in 45 minutes or less. Then once I complete that, I will consider either running more or shedding more time off.

I am not preparing myself for any marathon, just to live longer and healthier.

Got up at six and went to the running trail. I doubted myself since I could barely walk from muscle soreness first thing, but I got out there anyway.

The first half mile was rough (and that’s never a good sign) But I kept pushing myself, listening to the “Running to Cadence with the Recon Marines” on my IPod and I kept at it.

Like I said today was rough. I was extra sore because yesterday I did a new power yoga DVD and it kicked by butt for an hour. (I thought the yoga would alleviate the soreness from tennis and running on pavement, but I think it was too intense—not the relaxing, stretchy kind)

I wanted to stop at 2.5 but I felt like I at least had to go to 3.0 since that’s my usual distance.
Then I pushed for 3.25 because I did that once before, so How could I not at least do that, right?
Then I decided to do .25 more to beat my own record.

The next .25 I did because it was on my way back to the car lol!

I honestly don’t know where the very last .25 came from as it took me away from my car and my music had stopped. I guess I asked myself: “Do I really want to go home wishing I had done just .25 mile more?
No.
No regrets.”

So I went for it. I’m sure by then it was more a quick shuffle than a steady pace run, but whatever!

I did it!!!

It was soooo worth pushing myself :)

I’m going to try to push my distance tomorrow morning. Wish I could do it tonight, but I think I’m going to do yoga instead. (my shins and ankle are too sore from tennis and running on pavement yesterday)

So I finished my 5k goal that I set last year and told myself, “Now I never have to run again if I don’t want to.” But I want to… And my page looked lonely without a running goal. So here we go. I would NEVER have though I could get this far.

When I wrote this goal, I was running a little under 3 miles often. But then I broke my toe and that changed my running schedule…

Though it’s been over 3 months, my toe still hurts a little if I aggravate it too much – as I did when I went on a 4 mile hike the other day. Even so, I went jogging a few days ago and managed two and a half miles without any negative effects.

I’m back on track!

(even though I was exhausted after 10 hours of work) and changed my interval to 8 minutes walking/2 minutes running for the 3 miles.

Although it had been beautiful when I went to the post office:) at lunchtime, by the time I went out to exercise it was breezy and down to 45^oF. I had to wear sweatpants for the first time since spring.

Summer’s over (yay!).

That charlie horse in my calf on 10/3 took much longer to heal than I expected.

I finally started exercising again this week. Since I’ve done so little in the last month, I had to take several steps back in my training.

I dropped back to intervals of 2 minutes walking, 7 minutes running. I did that for 3 miles twice this week and both times felt ok.

My vacation coming up after next week is going to be another temporary setback, but at least I have started again.