Couch to 5K

Now, in addition to my commitment to going to the gym twice a week, I have agreed to join a friend from work in the "Couch to 5K" (C25K) running plan.

For a commitment-phobe, that's a lot of commitments.

Because I refuse to follow the rules, as per usual, I actually jumped in at week 3 of the 9-week plan in order to catch up with my friend who started a couple of weeks ago. And instead of following the suggested workout, I hiked with my dogs* every evening this week and threw in a few minutes of running here and there.

It's not that I think I know better than the experts who came up with the popular plan. It's just that I'm not good at following the rules, and I'm especially not good at working out. So the rules have to be bendy.

That said, I must pat myself lightly on the back for logging somewhere around 15 miles this week (I'm also not good at counting). Today, in particular, was a good running day. I followed the suggested workout almost to the letter. The only thing that threw a wrench in the works was that I occasionally had to stop to cross a tricky stream or to prevent a dog fight or to let a parade of horses go past while standing on a rock in the middle of a particularly tricky stream holding Delilah in my arms while yelling at Baxter to stay out from under the horses' hooves. Otherwise, I stuck to it. In fact, I think I may have done one too many reps of the workout. (I seriously need to work on that counting issue.) So at least there's that.

Meanwhile, the diet is improving. I'm still overindulging in chocolate now and then. But I've cut back from one giant candy bar per night to five (or ten) chocolate kisses. It's a start.

Baby steps.

The dogs are happy and exhausted. I'm just pooped.

*No, I did not get another dog. Delilah belongs to my friend Colleen. I borrowed her (the dog, not Colleen) for the week.