Well, after a day off I'm going running tomorrow.  I'm redoing week 2 after all the WTF?! moments last week I never got a good 3 runs in.  It'll be this week or bust!  Prayers for me that this go off without a hitch!?!?! 

Anij

W2D1 Done!  I thought I might not get this in today, seeing as last week I walked/ran in the mornings.  But, luckily, my loving husband offered to make dinner while I went out between bouts of rain.  So, not only did I get my workout in, I started a new week, and came home and did 25 minutes of yoga!  My legs were feeling tired but the yoga made my legs tingle from the inside out! Then, they did not feel as tired as they had when I came in from my run.  Awesome!  I feel very good right now.  And D1of W2 was not too hard!  I was hesitant to move on but so glad I did! 

Hang on, Anij.  You can repeat any week for as long as it takes, just don't give up!  We will be here, doing what we can do.  Backing off when we need to.  Do what you can do and keep on keepin on!

Loved all the posts.  Been reading everyday since last Friday; just too busy to take time to write.  Bluedaisy, RunningWithWhales, rcsparky, lanity, meryl27, guy, anij, etc.  We seemed to have lost a few along the way. I hope some of them find their way back.

Here is a little revised "Runners" blessing for you all:

May the road rise to meet you.  May the wind be always at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face.  May the rain fall soft upon your heels.  And until I sign on again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Team WTF,

and I do mean TEAM!  Remember that we are all in this together, 9 weeks or 19 weeks I will be here as well as everyone else.  We draw inspiration from each others good runs and bad days.  We will all have them, but that characterizes us is what we do when the bad days hit us!  We have all heard the cliques NO PAIN, NO GAIN, or WHAT DOESN'T KILL US, MAKES US STRONGER.  Many times when I got up these cliques weren't in my head, but you guys were, and I thank you for that!  Great Job and good luck!

Yesterday was my rest day before starting week 2, and it's high pollen season in the Willamette Valley. After a family outing yesterday, my normal hayfever turned to hives and swollen eyes -- not terribly restful. Feeling better today, but everything seemed to conspire against letting me out of the house to run: dead iPod, fussy kids, phone ringing. But my husband came home, took over and I went out for week 2, day 1 just as the sun set.

Many, many thanks to all of the posts about not pushing too hard. I ran today on a mix of concrete and barkdust and really tried to pay attention to my breathing and just when it felt like I might get a stitch. I think in the past I've been so concerned about "appearing" to be a real runner that I have pushed too hard too soon. In my case, the first pain this leads to is really labored breathing, which leads to a stitch, which leads to feeling like running sucks and I'm just not a runner.By keeping an easy, comfortable pace this evening, I avoided pain and really felt like the running was good and that the session went quicker than I expected.

Week 2, day 1 complete!

W3D1 was put to rest last evening, hoorah!!  It was not an easy one, and by the end I was saying "YOU WANT IT< YOU WANT IT" to myself. 

Also of great help was the RWW quote "Heart keeps running when strength gives out, Got heart?"  Not any rocket science going on while I'm running, but I'm cool with that!

So great to see everyone making progress on here.  Kids are yelling, back to the morning routine!

W3D1 done!  I logged on here before I ran for a little inspiration.  Boy did I get it.

MERYL - your post especially inspired me.  We're in the same place and you did it, so can I!

RUNSWW - I am so thankful for your posts.  You don't know how much you help this 37 year old whose carrying 40 lbs too much with a goal, a REAL GOAL of one day soon completing a 10K and wants to learn to love to run for herself.

LANITY - forgot to thank you earlier for the link to the mileage - thank you!

So today I had two goals:

1.  Today I will run and try to find the joy in the run.  My only expectation is to run when I'm supposed to and walk when I'm supposed to.  Not only does pace not matter, I can change it any time I "feel" like it.

2.  Today I run for RACHROB because she couldn't do it yesterday.  I have days like that too.  So I thought of her instead of my achy tendon on my left ankle that causes me to limp during the walking portions. I sent out all the good mojo I could muster and hoped it would find her....

And you know what?  The workout was hard.  My ankle felt marginally better than the last workout.  But a couple of cool things happened - by completely listening to my body to gauge my pace, the 90 second runs seemed SHORT whereas last time, they were long.  And the other cool think is the three minute runs (again, going at my own pace) allowed me to get into a "rhythmn" again and kind of "zone out" in my run.  Clear head, focusing on "feeling" my body.  Noticing my quads are stronger, feeling the run in my core, establishing and enjoying the rhythmn.

My distance was much shorter (but so was the podcast by design) and my ankle still hurts.  So today, I may not have the body and stamina or a runner, but today I learned about growing the heart of a runner. 

RACH ROB - today's run was for you.    Feel better and take good care of yourself.

First of all, welcome to everyone new!  I'm happy to see our TEAM growing and adding new "faces" for added motivation and support. 

Second of all, great job everyone!  Don't forget it's okay to repeat a week, or every week!  I plan on sticking around with this group, definitely at least as long as it takes everyone to finish!!  We're not going to be marathon runner overnight (wouldn't that be cool though?) but if we are persistant, we will eventually see great progress.

RachRob - It seems like you have everything in the world going against you right now.  I know it's not easy.  We're here to support you and help you through this.  You are an amazing person and you can do anything you set your mind to.  Every single step you run counts toward your progress.  Don't put too much pressure on yourself, take it easy, and try to enjoy it.  It's not a race, this is supposed to be fun.  Allow yourself to do something good for yourself!!  We're here for you! 

Lanity - Don't ever hesitate to give me advice!!  I believe we're all life long learners, and everything you can add to my "education" is wonderful and appreciated.  I'm going to keep everything you said in mind and try it, hopefully it'll help!  I'll keep you posted.  With your history you seem like a  GREAT person to learn from!  Please share as much of your knowledge and you care to!

Have a great day everyone!!