It's been 5 years since my last post

One of my life goals is to run a mile. I haven't ever done this, but I want to. You can read my last post, from my first attempt at the Couch to 5K plan back in 2007, to see my reasons.

One measly mile.

It doesn't seem like too much to ask. After all, the most basic running plan online is the Couch to 5K plan, and the goal for that one is (let me do the math) approximately three times as much as one mile.

Four times around the track.

I'm on the C25K plan yet again, and I just finished week two. I have the feeling that this might be the farthest I've ever gotten, but it's possible that my first attempt managed to squeeze into week three. I know I quit the second time around when my IT band decided it had had enough and was going to try its level best to separate from any part of my leg involved in moving.

So far, it's taken me three weeks, but I consider that "going well." I am armed this time around with an app, so I don't have to try to use a watch and can distract myself with music and/or podcasts. I also have a good stretching program for after I run, which will hopefully stave off the problems that plagued my earlier attempts.

I'm also not telling most people that I'm doing this. My immediate family knows, one of my coworkers (I swore her to secrecy), and another friend. But I've started this so many times I don't think I can have the conversations of "Whatever happened to running that 5K?" again, at least not with everyone I know.

Today's run was good. I ran 1.5 minutes 6 times. Well, I ran 1.5 minutes 5 times, and then ALMOST ran 1.5 minutes the last time. I knew that one would be hard, because it was all uphill. It was the steepest hill in the whole run. Really steep. I mean, I'm sure that it wasn't just my impression.

Still, I ran ALMOST all of those 1.5 minutes.

The reason, the plan

The descriptions: Wind through hair, feet pounding pavement, the beat of the heart a counterpoint to strong thrusts of legs and the pumping of arms. Runner's high. Running forever. Never having to stop. Wild joy giving way to distance.

There's a reason I always wanted to run. A billion, each one a tiny fragment of the whole. And yet, I've always been earthbound. Stuck. Plodding. A tortoise among hares. When forced to run in gym, the hatred would set in as soon as my breathing faltered. My legs hurt, and I was slow--too slow for the others, who would race ahead, or lap me within what felt like seconds. I would sweat, stumble, gasp.

I hated running. But I envied the runners.

I've tried to pick it up on my own, and failed. It's hard, and progress seems immeasurable. Finally, a friend commented that she had gone from not running to running what I consider a great distance of a few miles.

A mile has always been out of my reach. When I ran a half-mile, it took me nearly as long as it would have taken me to walk it.

This friend pointed me to the Couch-to-5K Running Plan, which I thought sounded feasible--even though I've never run in my life and am currently somewhere over 200 pounds. (5'9'', if you wanted to know).

I've done week one, and am repeating it--the idea is to run, not die en route--and I've noticed improvement. So this is my journey. Stick around. It could be interesting.