5K. Do WHAT?

I have a wonderful new friend, Leslie, who ran cross country in high school. She didn't run for years and then began running again last year. She has run in some 5K's and is doing really well. She basically started training from scratch since she hadn't been an active runner for so long. Leslie ran a 5K this weekend and was over last night talking about it. I have never really been a runner. Jamie's theory is unless something is chasing you, there is no reason to run. I've kind of had that same idea. But something peeked my interest last night when Leslie was talking about 5Ks. I think maybe it's the good feeling of accomplishment I've had lately. I like the feeling and want more. If I ran a 5K I would definitely feel like I accomplished something.

After Leslie left, I went to tristateracer.com and found a calendar of upcoming races. There are some in December and January, but I think that's too soon. But there's a 5K in Huntington in April for autism, and I thought that would give me plenty of time, plus autism is something I really care about. So I thought that would make my first race all the more special.

As I thought more about this today, I got nervous because I have no idea where to start. I'm not a runner. I didn't run track or cross country in school, I know nothing about it. I asked Leslie where to start and she gave me some pointers and directed me to the site, coolrunning.com. They have a lot of great information, including a program called "couch to 5K" that helps people like me start out and get into the groove, gradually.

I am excited to start this new journey. And now that I have announced it to everyone, I have to follow through! My training begins in the morning.

By the way, I'm 13.5 pounds down and I learned to hula hoop the other direction. And of course I have a whole new set of bruises!