Well, I ran 5 kilometers for the first time yesterday!

I did W9D1 in about 35 minutes. It really felt good, though I still had a mental effort to push through it. It's funny that telling myself "only 10 minutes more" actually helps; just a few weeks ago, running for 10 minutes was unattainable.

Arne: Wow, yeah, hardcore is definitely the word for running through all that snow.

I know this is not a weight-loss or food forum or thread, but just to keep myself accountable I want to post my "Healthy(-ier)Thanksgiving Plan".

My usual Thanksgiving routine:

Breakfast: McDonald's steak, egg, cheese bagel

Lunch: grazing on chips, dip, soda, apple cider, other munchies all day

Dinner: feeling compelled to eat some of everything and then seconds of all my favorites, more soda

Dessert: slice of apple pie, slice of pumpkin pie, slice of chocolate pudding pie, all with whipped cream, a brownie and/or chocolate chip cookie

Evening snack: a little bit of turkey, stuffing, gravy, followed by a sliver of pumpkin pie

Wow, writing it all down just makes it seem disgusting. I don't go too crazy on the portions, but still.

New plan:

Breakfast: McDonald's Egg McMuffin (promised my husband we'd go, but the egg mcmuffin is 300 calories, so it's not too bad)

Lunch: Not sure... probably going to do something light plus one glass of apple cider, but staying away from chips and dip and any other snacks that my mom puts out

Dinner: only eating my favorite must-have thanksgiving foods, and reasonable portions emphasizing veggies, water

Dessert: slice of apple pie, slice of pumpkin pie, but both small enough to equal one "regular" slice of pie, skip whipped cream since I don't even like it that much.

Evening snack: if I am truly hungry from eating dinner earlier than usual, I'll choose one thing for a snack... probably some turkey or a little apple pie

Hopefully if I know I have to report back, I will be "good" and stick to the plan.

Hey everybody!  I signed up for my second 5K just to keep me on track but have knocked my daily distance to about 2.5 miles to work on my time.  I am trying very hard to run at a faster pace.  Someone had asked about the 40 minute time at the 5K i just did, I also had to start the race at a walk due to the amount of people and about 3/4 of the way in the back.  I didn't think about those things when I looked at the clock at the end and it said 40 minutes :).  So I guess I did it in a little less than 40 but I wasn't really worried about.  Just happy to be out there with all of my fellow runners!

Hey everyone! Still running on the treadmill and got a bit sidetracked over the holidays and had quite a few days off. When you have "extra hands" available to do farmwork, you accept the help! LOL! Anyway, I had a icky run on Sunday after foolishly thinking that 2 1/2 hours was enough time for roast beef and a small amount of mac 'n' cheese and okra would be sufficiently "dealt with" by the time I would try to run...bad idea and lesson learned. 1.5 miles and I thought I was going to die. I felt like I had a cinderblock in my stomach! So, I've learned my lesson that I need to have a banana after an all night fast or at least 5 hours after my last meal and maybe a banana before a run, or NO run. Tonight I followed that advice, and while I was huffing and puffing, I completed FOUR miles in 52:07! I played around with speeds to allow certain muscles more exercise while some got stretched/rested, but I maintained an average of 13 minute miles. I'm SO thrilled that I ran 4 miles, I've not been able to do that in years! Maybe when I was in grade school? I honestly can't remember. What was even better was I didn't just collapse afterwards, I could have pushed further. But I knew better, I knew the 4 on it's own would whip me a bit, and by the time I got home from the gym I could feel a little stiffness here and there. Nothing that stretching won't take care of though!

Xcaliburgirl: What an AWESOME time! Way to go! I can't wait until I can do times like that! And another kudos about your handling of Thanksgiving and watching your diet. I hope someday to be more dedicated. Some days I do really well, then other days, not so much!

UGAFan: Way to go on your 5K stuff as well!

Chris: Gorgeous scenery for your 5K! Great pics, I hope to have some the share someday myself!

arne: I hear ya about certain runs (ie. day 2's) being not-so-good runs. For me, it was any day one of a move up in time/distance. Day 2 was better for me usually, but day 3's could go weither way. We just have differences in how our body adjusts to it all. The "keep plugging along" advice earlier in the thread was all that kept me going on some days. Pure stubborness and gritting my teeth is all that gets me through some days. But look how far we've come!

Dinine: The treadmill workouts are much better than I expected them to be! Again I don't want to lose what I've gained and hope to continue running outside on some days off (during daylight), but otherwise running at the gym has been much better than I anticipated. I don't have the Nike + thingy nor can I maintain a 12 minute mile, but I can't wait to hear about y'all's progress and how each of you are training to get there.  Becoming faster is a goal of mine!

Ok, I decided that really, I needed to post something after all this time.

I seem to be having week spells this year, falling ill in December. So all in all I dropped out for four weeks, not running between the 25th of November and the 27th of December. But I really did feel I needed to get back to it. So I got up, loaded up the 35 minute run and did almost 40 with a ten minute pause in the middle with about 5.5k's covered. For not running all that time, I wasn't disappointed. The stamina has gone down a bit as I ran 30 minutes last Sunday and only covered 4.3k's but without a stop in between. So, I am on my way again. Just making sure that I am taking a bit easier to build my knee muscles so I can keep on running. After all, I did promise to run the 16k dam to dam run in Amsterdam this year and a half marathon...