In August I participated in the Scottish Gas 5k "road race" - where I determinedly Did Not Run, but walked (briskly) and finished in about 50 minutes.
I stubbornly refused to even break into a jog for a few strides to get over the finish line, or at the beginning. This was a WALK and I would complete it at that pace. It did feel a bit sad getting to the furthest point, on the promenade, when there were 10k runners who had been all the way to Cramond and were back at that point before I had even walked there. Perhaps... somewhere down inside me, I felt a little nudge to say "perhaps you could run it next year".
Then I decided (later in August) to aim to lose 40lbs by my 40th birthday (July 2013). Another challenge, but about 0.8lbs a week, "how hard can that be?" The answer (about 2 months on), is quite hard. I think I've lost about 5lbs so far, but not convinced that my starting weight was actually representative (dodgy scales...) so in fact I may have only lost a couple overall. And now I'm about to head away for a week in a hotel for work and will no doubt be able to pile that back on without even trying.
The final straw is that Jenny this morning posted on Facebook that she has lost 38lbs since March, and is 6 weeks ahead of target (her 40th birthday too...) so I guess that the gauntlet has been thrown down. She recommended the NHS Couch to 5k programme. So perhaps I had better give it a go.
My worries are: knee stresses (already get sore quite easily with walking / cycling) and Achilles Tendinopathy (already a problem) and Plantar Fasciitis (has been a problem before). Maybe I will try to get there on gym machines, to begin with anyway, and see if there is a reason to invest in nice running shoes in a bit.
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