Saturday, August 7, 2010

Racoons and running

Two unrelated items for today!

First, Chuckalicious has a wee bout of diarrea going on, fun wow!  3 am walk with the pooch.  Thankfully only the one walk.  The number of racoons I saw in a ten minute outing was RIDICULOUS!  I must have seen at least 10.  OMG

On an unrelated topic, I have started running.  Can I just say that I hate running.  HATE IT.  But.....it takes so little time for the benefits it offers, requires no equipment other than shoes and determination.  The back story is this.  I am not even faintly fat...not even remotely, but three years ago I put on a pound.  Nothing to worry about there.  Last year another pound and a half and this year another pound.  None of this is a big deal, but that puts me 3.5 pounds over my normal weight and if this goes on a for a decade I'll be 13.5 pounds over. The realities of aging metabolisms.  Ho hum.

 I eat pretty well, not too much and pretty healthy, but I have a little sugar in my tea and some chocolate from time to time.  I know if I cut that out I'd handle the whole issue, but you know what?  I like the sugar in my tea and a little chocolate from time to time is a great thing, so this seems the solution.  Good for my heart and lungs and all that too.  Running in Spain in the mountains with the dog would be fun, and any other exercise I couldn't combine with walking the dog and frankly having to fit both in would be a hassle; so running it is.

I was looking at the couch to 5k program, and asked about it when I bought the shoes, she said she had heard of it, but that the store has a 'learn to run' program, straightforward too.  During week 1, run three times with this pattern,  1 min of running followed by 1 minute of walking. Rinse and repeat till you have been out for 20 minutes.  Week two, again run three times during the week, this time run for 2 minutes and walk for 1, repeat till you have been out for 20 minutes.  Week three, three min running, one walking.  You can imagine how this works.  By 10 weeks, you're running for 20 minutes with a single one minute break in the middle.

That's all I want, I don't want to complete a race, I don't want to ever run further than 5k, but I'd like to nip this tendency in the bud as early as possible and as conveniently and cheaply as possible.

To help keep myself honest, I have decided to post when and how I run on the blog, might help motivate me.

Wish me luck.

7 comments:

Boo and Trev said...

I'm impressed. Erin started running when she got back from the far east but got fed up with insects and mud and grass seeds invading her shoes. So she went to early morning swimming and got fed up with the nazi swimmers who think they own the pool. She is now thinking of joining the Gym.
I can see joining a class is an idea as it would be supportive.

J.G. said...

Raccoons own every city at night, I think. Same way where I live.

Good job on the running. Stop those pounds in their tracks! I agree that running is the perfect exercise because it requires no special equipment, fancy memberships, extreme money, or driving to a particular location. I only walk, but love the idea of shoes on and out the door.

P.S. Love your new photo of the house!

oreneta said...

Boo and Trev, I have joined a variety of classes over the years, but this year, between time and money, running it's going to have to be!

JG, Raccoons own the cities day and night I think.

I only walk too normally, but I think I need to up the ante a little.

Thanks about the house photo!

Anonymous said...

Didn't know Goldfinches have glitter on their wings. Kind of made me homesick for the Canadian wilds, I must say!GM

oreneta said...

Paint wasn't dry yet.

They were really really lovely.

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Good luck! I run because I want to eat cake. Plain and simple. Sad but true. Oh, and it's good for my heart. I hate the slowing metabolism thing.

oreneta said...

That's about the size of it for me as well, though maybe not cake...sorry....slowing metabolisms totally suck.