Things I've Learned Running

About 5 months ago, I started trying to lose weight with diet and exercise. The diet (Weightwatchers for Men) has worked well with 25 lbs. lost - I'll post about that another time. I knew I needed to exercise, too or I wouldn't stick with it. I started walking daily at a pace of 2 miles in 45 minutes, got that down to under 25 minutes and decided to start running. Today for the first time I averaged under 10 min per mile for the 2.5 miles I ran. I've been thinking about what I've learned along the way so it seemed a good milestone to post. So, in no particular order....

• The first five minutes of a run are the hardest.
• "Runner's high" exists - once I get 10 minutes in, I feel I can run all day.
• I'm too old to run every day - or maybe my knees are.
• The Arc Trainer is good exercise on the days I don't run.
  
• If 2 "in love" teens are walking towards you on the sidewalk, no way they are letting go of each other to let you pass - you are going in the street.
• Despite the heavy breathing and pounding shoes, people cannot hear you when you come up behind them - or maybe they are just in their own world.
• Steroids are real - I had an injection in my hip and recorded my best run and Arc Trainer 2 days later.
• My sweat stinks!
• There are lots of cool clothes and toys for running.
• RunKeeper on my phone is a cool app.
• Most runners are nice people - they wave as they pass, share tips on-line and are generally helpful.
• To paraphrase Yogi Berra, 90% of running is half mental. I had never run as much as I did in the Turkey Trot, so the next time out, I "knew" I could run most of the way, rather than splitting running and walking.
• More running = more beer. :) In WeightWatchers, 25 minutes of running gets you 1 beer.
• Having a resting pulse of 40 is pretty cool. It's fun to freak out Doctors/nurses and gets you mad props when they find out you exercise.
  

I'm sure there's more but at least for now, to quote Paula, I'm going to Keep Smiling, Keep Moving.

An Accidental Quasi 5K

Today I ran/walked in the Flemington Turkey Trot. The plan was to do the 2 mile Fun Run/Walk but it didn't quite turn out that way. This was my first Turkey Trot and first event of any kind where I had a number on my shirt. I arrived early and found a parking spot at the Court House and found the rest of Team Pro-Activity for a picture on the court house steps. Pro-Activity had over 150 runners in the event! After a potty stop and finding the alley for the 2 milers, we waited for all the 5K runners to head out and then it was (a slow) start to the run. I worked my way past the slow walkers and started running. I saw the first turn off for the 2 mile (which unfortunately some of the 5K'ers got sent down as well). After merging back in with the runners at about the 1 mile mark, somehow I completely missed the second turn off for the 2 mile run. After realizing that, I figured I'd just keep going since a) I felt pretty good and b) I'd feel pretty silly running backward thru the race. I managed to run about 2/3 of the race with fast walking in between. I figure the course I ran was about 3 miles and I did it in somewhere around 40 minutes. Here's the course map - I was supposed to take those pink lines - oh well - I made it and feel great.