Good Morning Sunshine

So after finishing up my gardening last night, I told my neighbours that I was setting my alarm for 5:45 to get up and fit this walk in today. Let's be clear - I am not a morning person. At all. Normally I hit snooze for an hour before my feet hit the floor, and a lot of days it's only because Todd shows up with food for me that I actually decide it would be a good idea to look alive. Sometimes I even hear him on his way up the stairs and I sit up right quick and pretend I was awake for awhile and just 'hanging out'. I suppose he has the patience of a saint.

By the time I went to bed last night, I didn't bother with 5:45. I knew there was no way I was getting up at that time of day! But when the alarm went off at 6:15 I surprised myself and jumped out of bed, got my teeth brushed, had a bowl of Special K with fresh raspberries in it (yum!) and headed out the door by 6:35. Since the sun was shining beautifully when I woke up (after 55 days of limited sunshine and lots of rain), it helped with the desire to get moving!

Since today was a 30 minute effort, I changed my route. The length of the route was good - 3km, and I was done in about 30 minutes. However, there turned out to be a fair number of hills in this route. Up Tyler Street, down Kali lane, up White Road all the way to the top - that's a LONG hill, around the corner and believe it or not, just as I was looking forward to cruising all the way DOWN Lacy Anne to home I discovered there is actually an uphill on Lacy Anne at the top before you start down the slow slope to my house.  'Waterloo' carried me through that last challenge. ;-)

No attempt at running today. The mixture of the gravel on Kali and the up and down hills was enough to convince me that running was not a good idea today. Here's my route map:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/35951606

I almost took a picture of what the world looks like at 6:30am to convince the rest of you that it's a great time to go for a walk. Or possibly it was to help remind me on Thursday that it would still be a good idea.

The funniest part of this outing was actually when I arrived back home and walked in the front door. The kids were sitting at the table eating breakfast, and were totally stunned that Mom got out of bed and did that much exercise before they were even up.  The looks of disbelief on their faces were priceless.

And to top it all of, I have eaten healthy food for three days. Granted, substituting wine for dinner last night wasn't a wise choice but I blame that on a neighbour who kept yelling about cold beer while I was doing my gardening work in the heat. Since we had no beer, I was stuck with wine. A funny sight you know, seeing a woman in her dirty garden garb with a real glass-glass of wine. Anyway, enough of the street stories. Only bad things can come of that.

First time out

OK - so here's what I've been doing since Thursday night. I bought a pretty pink ipod shuffle.

And then I spent some time making a playlist for my first time out. Music for me is everything. It can stop me dead in my tracks or pump me up to keep moving. So here's my first playlist:

Don't Let Your Feet Touch Ground (Ash Koley) - remember that fall the first time I ran? ;-)
Modern Girl (Sheena Easton)
Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant)
Gonna Make You Sweat [Power Remix] (Biggest Loser Workout Mix)
Jump [for my love] (The Pointer Sisters)
Holding Out for a Hero [or a heart attack at this point] (Bonnie Tyler)
Love in an Elevator (Aerosmith)
So What (Pink)
Rock the Casbah [Workout Remix] (Shape Walk Classic Remixes)
Freeze Frame (J. Geils Band)
Pretty Vegas (INXS)
Waterloo (ABBA)
Born This Way (Glee Cast Version)
Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)
Flashdance - What a Feeling (Irene Cara)
Walk This Way (Run DMC / Aerosmith)
Afterglow (INXS)

Yes - I always finish with Afterglow, it is one of my all-time favorite 'chill' songs.

SO... I spent a few hours Friday night and a few beer creating and ordering the above songs so that I would have a heart-pumper followed by a slightly slower one to catch my breath. I figured I was ready to go. Tomorrow. Saturday.

I woke up this morning and figured there was no better time than the present. Had a quick bite to eat and got ready to walk out the door. Turned on my ipod and realized that somehow the ordering of my songs changed. I never was strong in technology.

Anyway, off I went, the sun was peeking through and it was a great walk. I walked 0.6 km to warm up and then decided to try a jog. It felt so good I did 0.3 km jogging. Then I stopped for a breather and Holding Out for a Hero came on. I felt more like I was Holding Out for a Heart Attack so I walked (mostly because there were people around) and realized that my legs hurt. Walking was fine, but I was pretty sure jogging wasn't going to happen for a bit. I actually finished out the remaining 4.0 km at a very brisk walk (keeping up to the beat of my music). Almost stopped for a rest on Jennifer and Tommy Hunter's wall, thought for sure I was going to have to crash but I held strong and  Flashdance - What a Feeling came on. The slow intro gave me a few seconds of relief and then it pumped me up the hill and I knew I would make it all the way back. 48 minutes was my time. Is that good? I dunno. I think map my run said 6km/hour, but I'm not sure where that fits in the whole scheme of things.

Then I drove the route to see how far I walked. 4.9 km. Guess I'll have to walk to the bottom of the street and back next time at the end to round it up to 5k.

After Noah's basketball game at SMU I celebrated with a guilt free donair on Pizza Corner. Yum.

So, next up - what do we need to do this week? Get your music ready, we have two 30 minute walk/runs (Tuesday and Thursday) and another 5k Saturday.

If you are a total pre-beginner like me we are going to take it easy. You can choose between run 5 seconds and walk 55 seconds, or run 10 seconds and walk 50 seconds. Use the telephone poles as your guide. It likely works out to run 1 telephone pole (or 2) and walk 9 (or 8). And if you get sore or tired, just walk. You are doing more than you usually do so it's all good!!

The Running Supermom

OK - this is it. I've got a bit of time left before a big birthday, and I intend to use it wisely. No more eating all of that delicious food. No more never exercising. No more fun. Well - ok - I REFUSE to give up the fun!!

So here's my plan. I am a couch potato. So much so that I am enjoying the pleasure of typing this blog right from my living room couch. I weigh too much, and I am totally out of shape.

But the buck stops here! I am investing in an ipod shuffle tomorrow because you need a good toy to motivate you to exercise. I am going to plug it full of fun music that is going to get me moving, and I am going to learn to run. I am going to change my diet, and I am also going to lose weight. I think I am even going to try to have fun with this.

So if anyone ever reads this and would like to join in on the fun and the good health benefit side effects, just let me know. For now - I am going to post something here several times a week. It will either be an update on my workout for that day, a yummy and healthy recipe for you to try, or something fun to celebrate our successes.

And remember, if I can do this - anyone can. I have only ever run once before: I was 19 and much more fit. I stumbled and fell on the road and managed to get roadrash from my ankle to my arse. Fortunately Todd was with me and helped me back to his house, but he did withstand some strange looks from neighbours for the abuse they must have thought I suffered at his hands. LOL - I promise an update soon to let you know if I can run without falling, for at least the distance between two telephone poles.