9 weeks ago...

Nine weeks ago I was enticed to actually try running a 5K. A friend who heard I was able to walk the 5K (3.1 mile) distance in about an hour assured me that I could indeed run a 5K. I already had the couch to 5K program on my phone from my previous attempts of being healthy. I had been biking on a recumbent bike in my back room since I was cleared for exercise from after my accident. I wanted to feel good again, feel healthy again, but more than anything I wanted to get back to the goal I had set for myself last August. I want to get to the right BMI for my height & age. (which is about 148lbs) I started out my journey last August at 294lbs and I've dropped 50 lbs since then - even maintaining during my recuperation from a broken collar bone.

I took my friends advice and decided to sign up for a race. I signed up for the Troy Turkey Trot. I was nervous. I have asthma. I have bad knees. I thought I couldn't do it. Yet week by week I ran three days a week with the help of the iphone app telling me when to walk and when to jog. In the middle of October I walk/ran my first 5K with a time of 53 minutes. I was still training, dealing with shin splints, side stitches, cold air breathing, and the worst thing ever - a chapped bleeding ass. I say all these things now because along the way I've had people cheering me on with every post of a run completed. I never wrote about the difficult things, the soreness, the winded wheezing, the cold rainy runs, the runs where you cry because of life, the runs on a treadmill cause it's too cold outside.

I honestly don't know what made me think about doing this. I am thankful for "D" who likes or comments on every post about running. For "MB" who gave me the encouragement and many videos when I had technical questions. To "T" who kept telling me about her experience with couch to 5K. For my brother "P" deciding to race with me and run the opposite route so we could high five during the half way marker. To "KD" who decided to take on this crazy challenge with me and get me excited about a random 5K in October the day of our show. To "J" who is an inspiration & who's running blog is nice to read and made running in a race a fun game for me.

About half way through around 1.6 miles is where I get tired, I slow down. It's right there when they tell you to get mentally tough. To have a mantra, something to keep you going. I often joke that my mantra is "vanity" - sometimes, it truly is. Other times it's the single image I keep in my head when I look up and remember to keep my head up, shoulders loose, and hands relaxed. I use that image to make me run harder. Along the way I also think of "rule #1: cardio". Zombieland got it right, the first people to be eaten are those who can't run away. I wanted a fighting chance in the zombie apocalypse. Hence our race shirt of "zombies hate fast food".

Tomorrow the race is at 9:30 and my Nike+ app will post on facebook that i've started a 5K run. If you comment or like that post it will send me sounds of cowbells and crowds cheering. It's kind of awesome. I'll need it.

Also, if you want to jam along to my run here's what I'll be listening to.

Perfect Nightmare - Shontelle
Power - Kanye West
DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again - Usher
Only Girl in the World - Rihana
Somebody to Love (remix) - Justin Bieber
If I Had You - Adam Lambert
Raise Your Glass - Pink
Teenage Dream - Glee Cast
Telephone - Glee Cast
Firework - Katy Perry
I Like That - Static Revenger
Animal - Neon Trees
Dog Days are Over - Florence + The Machine
Just the Way You Are - Glee Cast

The goal is a new personal record (PR) for the 5K. So I am aiming to beat my time of 53 minutes and to run the entire race (minus the confusion at the start line for 5,700 participants)

So thank you to my friends. Your support has meant the world to me. So much that i've picked up the couch to 10K program and will start that at some point in December to shoot for a 10K sometime in March or April.