Mother’s Day 5K – Starting Training

I can’t believe it is March 1^st!   Yesterday I inadvertently started my training to run the Susan Komen 5K Mothers Day, May 13^th, at the Mall of America here in Minnesota.  Since it was leap day, it sort of seemed appropriate that my workout buddy and I messed up our schedules, and I ended up working out by myself on a treadmill. I “ran” a grand total of 4 minutes, walking the rest.  Well, it’s a start! 

Starting out – yet again!  I’m a perpetual beginner.  I mostly walked last year and had a really nice time with the friends and family who came along to support me.  I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.  I have done extremely well, and feel I am very, very lucky.  I did make a pact with myself when I was diagnosed to do something active every day.  And since 2008 I have done that.  I swim, sometimes I do the treadmill, elliptical, or rowing machine.  I like to walk outside as much as I can.  However, I have finally accepted that if I am going to do any weight work I need to support and organization of a trainer.  I just don’t do it on my own.  I share a session once a week with one friend and do her boot camp with another--at 7:30 am on Saturday mornings. (That time nearly kills me, but I love the feeling after!) 

Just as an aside, from the research I have done, the best thing a woman can do to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer is to be active.  The percentage improvement beats everything, including weight loss and diet change, although those are great ideas, too!  No one knows exactly what causes breast cancer, but we DO know it will affect 1 in 7 women.  Not to mention all the people surrounding them. 

So yesterday I started “running.”  First thing I noticed was my shins complained right away.  I forgot to warm them up – a big no-no.  I stopped immediately, sat down, and wrote the alphabet with my feet.  That helped.  I also did NOT do more than a few minutes of running on this first try.  I knew if I did I would regret it.  Nothing is worse than shin splits.  They take forever to clear up. 

Tonight I’m going to fast-walk to a dinner date I have instead of driving.  I’ll walk fast, but won’t run, although I may throw in some skipping to get a few different muscles alerted to my new goal. I’m a little nervous because I’m at least 5 pounds heavier than last year.

As I watched my pace on the treadmill, I reminded myself that I will NOT set any time goal for my 5K.  My goal is to run most of it, walking if I need to, and to have a great time.  Your goal may well be more ambitious than mine, and I say go for it!  At the Komen event there are all these volunteers out there cheering people on.  There are several “survivor corners” where they give hugs to survivors.  I don’t want to miss any hugs by worrying about a time!

Next step:  I want to check out some of the training programs online for ideas for the next 10 weeks.  I’ve never done that before.  I’ll let you know what I find!