Dare You To Run

I woke up this morning to absolutely pouring rain and began my usual Saturday morning routine of eating breakfast, catching up on TV shows and reading some blogs. All of a sudden I just had this overwhelming desire to start up running again. My knee has been feeling significantly better (I haven't even been wearing my strap all the time anymore) and I can go for hours without any pain at all. When pain is there, it's almost not even noticeable except that I am paying attention.

I immediately jumped in crazy Kelly mode of looking at 5k races that I could still do this fall, and I did find a few for the last few weeks of October and early November. Plus there are always Thanksgiving day races (although Eric will have a football game I may want to watch as well). I have no idea if I'll really be able to do another 5k this year, but I'd like to ate least TRY to get back into running before the winter. Enter: Couch to 5k. I LOVE this training plan for beginning running, and although I'm not a running beginner I definitely need to start up VERY slow so I do not bother my knee again. And if I do bother it again (even taking it slow), I am going to stop. Because it's not worth it.

Since it's pouring rain outside, I decided to start with the treadmill (plus I think I'll stick to as much treadmill work as possible to help the knees). I broke out my old sheets I had typed up which said when to switch from walking to running. The first week of the Couch to 5k has me warming up for five minutes and then alternating 1 minute jogging with 90 seconds of walking. I have it all typed up before hand because otherwise while I'm running I'll be wondering "what time did I start running?" and "when do I switch again." I taped it back up next to my treadmill.
Up close...
My promise to myself as I start up running again (besides stopping if it hurts) is that I am going to be very serious about foam rolling, stretching and doing all of my PT exercises every other day like I am supposed to be doing. This is no time to be a slacker. I was off to a good start today with foam rolling and stretching and I'll do my PT exercises tomorrow morning (I just did them yesterday).
After I was all foam rolled out, I started up my walk/run combination.
I LOVED doing this. First of all, the beginning of the Couch to 5k goes by so fast because it's only 25 minutes and you are constantly switching from running to walking so I barely had a chance to look at my magazine at all because I was so focused on switching the speed. I did get a chance to watch Samantha's Browns Passport to Great Weekends Chicago that I DVRed. It was fun to watch and it convinced me that I had the most fantastic tour guide on my trip to Chicago last fall..

Ash! She took Eric and I to basically all the same places that Samantha Brown went to. Except, she added our all time favorite Chicago Restaurant, Rosebuds on Rush into the mix. Yum. I want to go back to Chicago now.

Anyway, back to running. My plan for the next week involves a mix of 3 days of running, plus some strength training and other cardio. Hopefully I'll be able to make it through with no knee issues.

Sunday- Shred and PT exercises
Monday- Spinning
Tuesday- Couch to 5k Walk/Run
Wednesday- Kettlebell Class
Thursday- Couch to 5k Walk/Run
Friday- Off
Saturday- Couch to 5k Walk/Run

Tonight I have a Bachelorette party and tomorrow a Bridal Shower (for two different girls, both very good friends of mine from high school). It's going to be a weekend of preparing for tomorrow's shower, going out tonight for the bachelorette and preparing/going to the shower tomorrow. Good thing my master's classes are all over now and I can have weekends like this guilt free :)