I had a  very hard summer.  I lost a lot of weight, I was hospitalized, I have to use insulin now, I gained some weight back, and I finally had to give up sugar, yes, a very hard summer.  But summer is coming to a close.  The wonder of fall is about to begin.  I’m tired.

I know that in addition to having to lose weight I also need to get physical exercise.  I can walk or step or lift weights, or all of the above.  I hadn’t started doing anything and I was getting restless.

Dropping 50lbs wasn’t hard, just hard on my body.  I’ve never been dehydrated before, it wasn’t fun.  I gained back 15lbs once all my cells could function again.  I didn’t realize how sick I had let myself become.  Still, I needed to do something physical.

Out of the blue one evening, my daughter called and informed me that she had signed up to run her first 5K.  I was impressed!  I thought it was about time to start walking but could I actually run again?  I haven’t run for about 15 years and I am 57 now.  I thought about it a couple of days and decided to join her.  I signed up for my first 5K run.

I have until April 2020 to get my self into shape.  I downloaded an app…hahaha, ain’t that the way of it.  I decided that the app was going to be too slow for me.  I push too hard sometimes and so I just jumped in, all by myself.  I’ve been a distance runner before, surely I can do it again.

I chose interval training, you know, some walking and then some jogging.  So far it is working well.  I have a 15:45 mile going.  My goal is 14:29 or less per mile.  I am not running the entire time, yet.  I’m not even up to a full 3.1 mile course.  So far,  1.57 miles a day has been it.  I’m lazy.  I set my alarm everyday, like I’m going to really jump up and start moving….a girl can dream.

I usually get up about half an hour after the alarm.  I let the dogs out, feed the cat and then put my shoes on.  One day I walk the entire course, the next day I do the interval training.  Most days my eyes are still half closed as I take my first few steps.  I gripe, internally, for the first 5 minutes.

I started lengthening my stride.  I don’t take those little baby steps as I slowly jog along.  Now I am taking actually running strides.  I’m proud of that.  Oh, I don’t run far with that stride, but I do run now.

I will be 58 when this race happens.  As always, I want to look good as I cross the finish line, no matter what my final time will be.