Week 4, Day 1

Run 5 min., Walk 1 min., Repeat 3 more times

• Treadmill speed: 5 miles/hr
• Total distance: 1.86 miles
• Feeling good. Not a problem. Bring it on!!
  

Week 3, Day 7

• Run 4 min., Walk 1 min., repeat 3 more times
• Treadmill speed: 5 miles/hour
• Distance: just over 1.5 miles
• Knees weren't too bad. Legs were tired but my breathing was good. Sweating like a pig though. During the last 30 sec. of the last cycle, I upped the speed to 6.3 miles/hr, just for good measure.

Week 3, Day 6

• Today I was supposed to run but I switched with tomorrow and took a day off. I was enjoying being a couch potato too much. Plus I figure my knees could use another day to rest.
• On a sad note, Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th president of our church, passed away tonight (Sunday, January 27th, 2008) at age 97. I will always remember him as the prophet who brought so many temples to the world and raising the bar for missionaries.
  

Week 3, Day 7

• Run 4 min., Walk 1 min., repeat 3 more times
• Treadmill speed: 5 miles/hour
• Distance: just over 1.5 miles
  

Week 3, Day 6

• Today I was supposed to run but I switched with tomorrow and took a day off. I was enjoying being a couch potato too much.
  

Week 3, Day 5

Day off

• Perfect for me because I've got so much to do today. Mind you, when don't I have too much to do?
  

Week 3, Day 4

• Fitness of choice for 20 min. (eg. walk, bike, aerobics)
• I chose walking because my left knee was achey again.
  

Week 3, Day 3

• Run 4 min., walk 1 min, repeat 4 more times
• Today was hard halfway though. It may be because I was at the office until 9pm, never had supper, Sheldon picked me up, got home at 9:30pm, then started running at 10pm. I even started having thoughts of why I was doing this and can I do this. I'm writing it off as the conditions I was running under.
• In order to make up for yesterday, Sheldon made a surprise visit at my office with a single red rose. A couple of my co-workers gave him heck for not keeping me updated yesterday. It was a pleasant surprise and we're all good now.
  

Week 3, Day2

• Day off
• I was too emotionally exhausted to run anyways. Sheldon was experiencing some chest pains after my run the night before. I begged him to go to the hospital just to get a reading of some sort to say it was ok. My begging was for nothing because he didn't go.
  
• Then at 2pm today, he emails me "Went to the hospital. S. and R. (his co-workers) bullied me into going. at the General (hospital). had an EKG". I called his cell, he answers, says he is waiting for his results, then he suddenly had to hang up because they were calling his name. That was it. I knew nothing more!
• Needless to say, I was a WRECK. I bawled in a co-worker's office. I was shaking. I had an emergency at work as well that I had to solve. I couldn't think! Sheldon didn't call me until 3 hours later!!! I was so emotionally exhausted I went to bed at 8pm.
• He's ok. He's just not allowed to shovel (which is what probably brought the pains on in the first place) or even push a snowblower! Lucky him.
  

Week 3, Day 1

• Run 4 min, Walk 1 min, repeat 3 more times
• Legs and knees were sore today. I went to The Running Room and got properly fitted for running shoes.
• The run was much better with these shoes on. My right shin muscle is pulled a little so that was bugging me a little. Overall, the increase of time was fine. I didn't suffer at all. During the last cycle I did count down the time a bit more but it didn't feel bad.
• I'm debating whether to sign up for a web clinic at The Running Room. I don't have to physically be at the running clinics. They supply once/week "podcasts" from instructors and there are online tools to help you. I'll think about it some more. The only thing I really worry about is whether or not the training schedules I've pulled from the Internet will really prepare me for a half marathon.
• I picked up a brochure on the Ottawa Weekend Run in May. I got excited looking at the route. A little intimidating, but excited.
  

Week 2, Day 7

• Day off
• Asked a friend at work about my knees being sore. She says it's because I'm wearing cross-trainers, not running shoes.
  
• Played volleyball and my knees really hurt afterwards. I had to ice them when I got home.
  

Running to catch up

I have a bit of catching up to do on my blogging. I'm combining my running journal with what I've been up to this weekend for simplicity sake.

Week 2, Day 6

• Run 3 min., walk 1 min, repeat 4 more times
• Today's run was fine. I think I'm ready to push the run longer than 3 min. However, my knees still felt a little achy today...kind of like there's not enough cartilage to cushion my knee. Something to watch out for.
• A friend said I should make these entries juicy if I was worried about people being bored just reading about my training so I think I'll tell you what I watched on the laptop while running. I've been trying to find a show on the Internet that had full episodes of a season. I find the trashy shows are quite entertaining while running. Today, I picked The Real World: Sydney. We were introduced to 4 girls and 3 guys who have to live together in a house for 4 months (like Big Brother but they get to go out and work like normal, nobody is kicked off and I don't think they win any money). Drama, drama, drama. One of the two girls who are the younger party girls clashed with one of the two girls who are more "level-headed". At the root of it...a boy who has a girlfriend back home. Oh the drama!
• This morning Aidan was upset that Sheldon switched guitar teachers on him. Sheldon wanted a more experienced teacher for him; Aidan liked the cool teenager that was teaching him.
• Sheri's Facebook this weekend said to go to church to see who her surprise house-sitter was. Here's who it was...
  

Jen, Rachelle, Me

Week 2, Day 5

• Walk for 20 min
• Worked all day and missed ice-skating with the rest of the family.
  
• Also went on a fun double date with the Jakobs. Thai food for dinner in Gatineau, got tickets from the de Souzas to see a Cuban latin jazz music at the NAC (complete with girls throwing themselves at the lead singer who looks like a sweaty Cuban version of Ross from the tv show Friends), and then dessert at an Italian restaurant in Little Italy. Fun times, great friends!
  

Week 2, Day 4

• Today I came home from work just to work some more. My VPN access to work cut out just before 11pm so I figure that was my cue to stop working. Today I was supposed to walk for 20 min and then I had tomorrow off but I switched it because I was working so late.
  

Week 2, Day 3

Run for 3 min., Walk for 1 min., Repeat 4 more times

• Half-way through today I had some very brief moments of regret but it didn't last long. I did notice my knees were aching a little while running; not enough to cause concern though. I'm proud of myself for even getting on the treadmill today because it was a long and very busy day at work. When I got home at 7:30pm, all I wanted to do was to sit, watch tv, and dig into this huge bag of lychee fruit that I bought last night. But I perservered and followed the training schedule. Now I'm going to take a shower, THEN dig into the bag of lychee.
  

Week 2, Day 2

Day off

• Oh yeah!
  

Week 2, Day 1

Run for 3 min, Walk for 1 min, repeat 3 more times

• Even though I only had to do the cycle 4 times, I did an extra one for good measure. I also talked to my friend Sarah who is a running athlete and she made a training schedule for her sister who never ran before. I asked her how long it took her sister to run a half-marathon, just so I could later gauge my own time against something. She said her sister ran it in about 2 hours and 15 min. I think I can do that. I'm running at an average of 4.5 miles per hour on the treadmill right now and that's a comfortable slower-paced jog for me. I think I can work myself up to tackle 5 miles per hour or more. I feel great for doing an extra cycle. That way if the next run is too much for me, I don't have to feel guilty for cutting one cycle out. It's all about stocking up...just kidding. Seriously though, I'm feeling really good about this.
  

Week 1, Day 7

Day off

• But I did have volleyball so there was some exercise today. The team we played against were totally sore "winners". It really got on our nerves. They could have stuck their tongues out at us, waved their fingers beside their heads and sang "na na na na na na" and it would have been the same...very immature.
  

Week 1, Day 6

Run 3 min; walk 1 min; repeat 4 more times

• Today was much easier. This time I didn't run as fast; it was more a slower-paced jog. I also found that if I'm watching a cheasy tv show on the laptop, it really helps take my mind off things. I enjoy something with a storyline more than just running to music. In the future, I'm going to try listening to a tv series or even a movie for longer runs.
• Yesterday I printed up lots of other tips on preparing mentally for the race as well as nutrition information. I also printed up a different training schedule that I will switch to in a couple of months. It's more intense and specific to a half-marathon. The one I'm using right now is just to get me used to running as a beginner.

Week 1, Day 5

A day off

• I'm not kidding; that's what the training schedule says. I can totally do this. I did go ice-skating with the family today which could count as something even though I didn't have to do any exercise today. However, the hot dogs and fries for lunch and the Thai Express for dinner may have cancelled all my good work for the first four days. Oh well...as long as I break even at the end of the day.
  

Week 1, Day 4

Walk for 20 min.

• Well I can do this...anybody can do this!

Week 1, Days 1-3

One of my goals for 2008 is to run a half marathon (approx. 21 km or 13 miles). I have never run a race or even exercised by running in my life but I've been inspired these last few years by people I know who started off just like me and now they love to run.

I downloaded a training schedule from the Internet and have told many people of my lofty goal. I figure if many people know about it then I really can't wimp out.

So in order to help me, I'm going to be tracking my progress on my blog. Maybe it will inspire somebody else to start running or just totally scare them away from the idea forever.

Week 1, Day 1: run 2 min., walk 1 min., repeat 4 more times

• I was shocked at how "easy" this was. I wasn't overly tired or suffering.

Week 1, Day 2: rest

• Well this was easy

Week 1, Day 3: run 3 min., walk 1 min., repeat 4 more times

• First of all, how come it jumps all of a sudden from 2 min. to 3 min? Secondly, crap was this hard. Halfway through I had to slow down my running speed a bit because I started feeling pukey. Maybe I should've waited more than an hour after dinner before I ran. Anyways, I'm a little bit discouraged that adding another minute was so hard, I'm a little bit proud that I finished it and I'm dreading the next run a lot.
  

PS...
Other goals for 2008 include:

• taking a learn to row program in the summer with a volleyball team mate (to tone those chicken wing arms of mine)
  
• cleaning out and reorganizing the basement (already underway and near completion)
  
• saving up to renovate the kitchen (which will be hard not to travel anywhere this year)
  

Christmas Happenings

I got a little bit behind in my posts because we were having so much fun visiting with friends during the Christmas break. Here's a photo journal of all the Christmas happenings...











Christmas Eve at the Jakob's and then the Booth's





























Christmas Morning.
Holiday dinners wouldn't be complete without old man Monty.



















Boxing Day at the Collins' and then the de Souza's. Spencer just completed a hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Sheldon just completed a nap at the Collins' during the party. What a party pooper! At the de Souza's, we played cards until the wee hours of the night.















Dinner at the Clark's new home. They just returned from a posting in Beijing for a couple of years. During that time, they had two little boys.




















Ha ha...I love this picture. We were at a potluck and white elephant gift exchange at the Laycock's. Angelina is testing one of the gifts on Jen while it looks like Eric is just sitting back and lovin' the action.










Black and White Ball - Stake New Year's Eve Dance. It took us about 5 hours to decorate and only 30 min. to tear it down. Sigh.