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I did it.

 

I went to bed early, set my alarm for 6AM, refused to repeatedly slam my hand on the snooze button, got dressed and went for my first run.  Ever.  The schedule I've chosen is from Run for Life.  This morning I did a brisk walk with my arms pumpin' for a good 5 minutes before I paused and stretched for a couple of minutes and then I started with running for 1 minute and speed walking for 2 minutes.  The first few cycles I felt like the 2 minutes of brisk walking was too long but by the 10th one I was still breathing really heavily by the end of my allotted walking time.  But I never cheated myself and I ran the whole minute; sometimes I'd make a goal of making it to the end of the path or 30 more strides before beginning the walking part.  I was exhausted when I got home but it was a really good kind of exhausted.  Strangely enough, while my legs felt a little weak for the first hour or so, it's my lungs that are still bothering me.  It's almost like I have a phlegm-y cold now because I have a terrible cough and some tightness in my chest.  I know it's from the run.  Maybe I'm clearing everything out?

 

I made certain to stretch very well before and after my run this morning so hopefully I won't feel much tomorrow in the way of muscle aches.  I walk about 1km each way every day to and from Shaun's school, twice, so a total of about 4km a day.  Mind you, that's at toddler pace since Ian walks beside the stroller but I think maybe my legs are in better shape than I had originally feared because they're not sore at all.  The morning will tell the whole story!  Shaun has an early hockey game tomorrow in a small town about 30 minutes from here so I have no chance to lay in bed and nurse my aching legs.

 

I actually feel really good about this new life choice.  I've had the experience before of starting too ambitiously and becoming completely discouraged after only one try.  I have two more runs (one on Monday and another on Wednesday) with this current run/walk timetable and then I move up to the next level.  I have them all marked out on the calendar so I can cross them off as I do them.  I'm excited to get this show on the road and completely surprised that I actually enjoyed myself this morning.  Now if I could only find my mp3 player...