Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Week 5

May 3rd - Week 3 (the first one), Day 3

Week 5 is upon me and this is the week that things start getting real.  This is an 8 week program so by entering into week 5, I've officially made it past the half way mark!  (And, considering I did week 3 twice, this is actually my 6th week running.)  Not only that, but this is when the workouts get longer and more difficult.  Someone on the C25K Facebook page was saying they were extremely worried  about week 5, day 3 and was asking for advice on how to get through it.  Now, silly me, I don't tend to look at the upcoming workouts.  I pretty much just pay attention to that day's workout.  But, this piqued my curiosity (not to mention got me a bit worried), so I scrolled ahead.  Now I understand.  

"Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking."

What??  Two miles??  NO WALKING??  I'm not even running yet and I already can't breathe!

But my cousin is in town from Denver and she's also a runner.  Lucky for me, she still has an office when she comes home and that office happens to be in the same complex that I work in.  So we are running together this week.  And what's most awesome about it (besides getting to spend time with my cousin), is she's going to be there to push me when I need it most, so I will have no choice but to finish that run on Friday!

Yes, part of me is scared as heck over it.  But, another part of me is secretly semi-excited.  I've already proven to myself that I can run for a mile straight without stopping.  It wasn't easy by any means, but dang it, I did it and I couldn't have been any happier.  That was two weeks ago.  I'm curious to see if I've improved since then.  My pace seems to average about 13:30/mile so in all honesty, I will probably hit 20 minutes before I hit the two miles.  Maybe I'll aim for a mile and a half in 20 minutes.  We'll see how it plays out.  :)  

Changes!

So I mentioned that I had made it 10.5 pounds down last week.  I also mentioned that I've been seeing the scale creep up and then back down.  This past week was no different.  I hated to see it go back up after hitting that huge (to me) milestone, but I managed to remain calm.  I knew it would go back down, and it did.  I'm back down and even down a little bit more than before.  

Aside from the scale going down, something very exciting is that all of my jeans are getting to be too big!  On one hand, I hate that I only have two pairs of jeans that fit. And on the other hand, I ONLY HAVE TWO PAIRS OF JEANS THAT FIT!  :D  That means that I'm going to have to go shopping for new ones!  What woman wouldn't be excited by this? I'm excited about the need, but I'm actually nervous about it.  I'm afraid of going in, trying on a size smaller only to find that they are too small.  What a spirit killer, eh?

And TMI warning:  This is a side note more or less to myself . . .

• My shirts seem to be fitting differently in the chest area.  Not filled out as much up there?  Uh oh!
• I feel like I'm losing weight in my tooshy, which by the way - THANK YOU GOD! - my unders seem to be a little more roomy in the backside.  
• My tummy seems to be getting softer.  This is probably from a lack of muscle tone.  I'll need to try to add some core work into my routine.

My dear husband commented tonight that my face looks thinner, my legs look more firm, and my arms look a bit thinner.  

I think it goes without saying that I'm super pleased with my progress.  Can't wait to see what the scale says tomorrow!  lol