Couch to 5K in 8 weeks - week 1

So, last Saturday my friend C gave me the following birthday gift: the race fee to any 5K race of my choice. Great gift - except I don't run. Haven't run for 2 years. Or should I say I don't run yet. So I nicely said thank you for the gift, and I'll get back to you with a race date.

Next day, Sunday was a sunny day with some spring feeling in the air. So I decided to find a beginner's training program and found Coach to 5K in 8 weeks on the runningbug webpage. First run was to be on a Tuesday, but I thought - what the heck - carpe diem - and I started on the Sunday. A 2 day head-start as I see it! Felt very good afterwards. Well, at least in my head and heart. Shins and hips were rather confused about this new activity.

Tuesday came around and I did the first run of the program (which was my own 2nd run - great to be ahead of the game). What a difference to run in the dark instead of on a sunny Sunday. I decided that as the starts were out, I'd enjoy looking at them and forgetting about the dark around me. The run went well.

Thursday run never materialised. I didn't feel 100% and decided to go to bed early instead of putting my running shoes on. Seeing as I was one run ahead, this felt okay.

Today is Saturday and I went for my 3rd walk/run on the training program. You are supposed to do this run on Sundays but as I have found a good yoga class Sunday afternoons, I want to keep going to that and thus weekend run is now on Saturdays.

Sunny weather but only +0.9C and very windy (13m/s or 47km/h winds) made for a challenge walk/run. I tried to be smart and run with the wind in my back or to my side. Which meant I ended up with a 15minute walk in strong headwind in order to get home! But it was worth it.

After the first week of this learning-to-run program I feel very good - mostly about the fact that I am actually trying to get fit and get back into running. 1 week down and 7 to go. Considering signing up for the Vår Ruset 5K race in Malmö on May 2 - to have a goal to work towards. I have run that race once before (way back in 2005 I think, and my time was 34-35 minutes I think). Depending upon how my training goes in the next 7 weeks - I may aim to beat that time :-)

Correct pronounciation

Walking around in Lllangollen recently we passed a rather unusual store: Riverside Taxidermy Studios. As I was un-sure of how to pronounce this word (I knew what it meant, just wasn't sure if it was actually pronounced as it was spelled) I asked my mother-in-law about it. She said it is pronounced "taxidermy".

I was about to say Thank you when my son says "No nana, you said it wrong! It is "taxi journey"!!!

Good hearty laughter followed. You gotta love a little bi-lingual boy who at 4 years old starts correcting the adults' pronounciation (even if he got the actual word wrong!).

Sunday by the Sea

Where I sat and read my book this afternoon.

Happy Feet.

Seashells

Start of morning walk.

7 KM of beach but I settled for less :-)

2 views of our vacation

Playing in the rain at home (above).

Lazy days on Menorca (above).

Bare feet ...

Today I ran bare feet on the grass and gravel at the playpark. It was my son's idea, not mine, but I am glad I followed his suggestion. Gravel is not so comfortable on fragile feet used to being protected by shoes, but the grass felt great! So liberating. To then play with my son on the swings and on the slide made me feel happy and somewhat younger. I should listen to my son more ;-)

Teaching good manners ...

The other day my son and I were at IKEA having a hot dog. My son likes ketchup on his hot dog. As he devourered the food, ketchup ended up all over his face. He happily wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. As a mother wanting my son to have good manners I calmly explained that that is not the way it is done, we have napkins and he should use one of these to wipe his face. He listened, looked at me, smiled and said: "It is OK mamma, the sleeves are the same colour!!!" He was wearing a top with red sleeves at the time. I simply laughed :-) My efforts at teaching good manners was defeated by a 4-year old's logic and reasoning skills. Wow!

All is well in the Galaxy ...

Today, on Mother's Day in Sweden, little Darth Vader took the time to go visit his grandmother at the hospital. That will teach us that inside "baddies" there is a bit of a "goodie" too.

Or was it just the positive effects of wearing his Superman t-shirt underneath ....?

Anyway, I think all is well in the Galaxy today :-)