Who's that fat guy running on the greenway?

That would be me. This afternoon I will do 6 miles (outside if the weather holds) for the 6th time. Today completes 6 weeks of training and I'm happy to report I have not missed a single day of training. It's not been easy as there have been countless times that I wake up at 5:50 a.m. and wonder why I'm doing this.

Last Saturday I had a 3 mile assignment and Molly joined me at the Y. Something about knowing that she was watching me, motivated me to keep going and 34 minutes later I hit the 3 mile mark on the treadmill WITHOUT STOPPING.

I tried all week to repeat that feat, but couldn't find it in me to do it nonstop. My pace this week was consistently in the 11:45 range. Some days I would jog steadily at that pace, while other days I would run a 10:00 mile (haven't done that in 10 years!), and then walk a 14:00 mile. and then sprint to the end.

The 3 mile jogs don't seem very long anymore; the 4 mile jogs are still pretty exhausting, and as much as I want to run 4 miles without stopping, I think I'm still 2-3 weeks. The 6 mile assignment is so frustrating. I want to keep jogging, but I just can't keep my legs moving. I think I end up walking more than half of it. Usually somewhere around a 14:00 pace.

Now for my proud moment of the week....drumroll please....

Yesterday, The Cardinal Greenways hosted a competitive 5k. The last time I recall running a competitive 5k was some 20 years ago. My goal was to just run the whole thing without walking.

**MISSION ACCOMPLISHED**

An old friend of mine was there and I wanted to impress her as much as myself. The format was out and back, so she hit the turn before I did and gave me the thumbs up on her way back. I struggled the last mile, but kept the legs turning, and with just a tenth of a mile to go, she met waited for me to jog me in. Pushing me all the way, she said, "It'll only hurt for one more minute and then you can throw up!" She was right, and I almost did! 34:15 doesn't break any records or even place me in my age group, but I'll take it for week 6.

The next scheduled Greenway Run is a 10k on June 19. Same goal...I just want to finish without walking.

http://www.cardinalgreenways.org/index/News-and-Events/Run-WalkSeries.asp

I ADVISE U TO WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS.