The pay off

5 weeks until my first official run, a 5K in Woodstock. I was feeling really good about my progress through the first week in March, however; since starting a new job I hadn't fit running into my new routine until today. I had always run in the morning before breakfast but no earlier than 7:30. Now, I am in the car by 7 and can't bring myself to wake up at 5 to fit in an hour run before my normal hour "get ready" routine. The solution seems to be running an hour after dinner at 7:00pm. Part of the reason it took so long to make this adjustment is because I'm finally starting to get over a cold that turned into a sinus infection, draining me for the last three weeks. I've been on medication since Thursday night and although I still am not feeling 100%, I felt well enough to put in a couple miles. I ran 2.5 miles today. I had to stop because my chest was all scratchy feeling from the infection. Water is helping now.

So, yeah, most awesome moment so far since I've started running. When I went to a walk in clinic on Thursday to get treatment for the sinus infection, a fairly fit looking nurse took my blood pressure. Upon getting the reading, she said "Wow, are you an athlete, do you run?" Now, I am not built like a runner, I've got plenty of pounds I'd like to drop just to be a healthy weight, so I was surprised she asked that question. I explained how I had been running consistently until a few weeks ago, to which she responded that she could tell, that my blood pressure reading had me as possibly the healthiest person in the building. At the moment I'm sure I was beaming with excitement. I didn't realize how impactful running would be on my health so quickly. I'm glad to see that there is already some pay off to this enjoyable hobby.

Going forward, I've got a strict 9 week schedule I will be following until the 10K race on May 31st. It's game time.