couch > 5k

Monday marked the 2nd annual kick-off of the couch-to-5k running plan in our house. Marty and I are pounding the pavement three times a week, Charlie in tow {strapped into the jogging stroller, mouth stuffed with crackers}.

For wanna-be runners like me, its the best running plan I've found so far. {Not that the words "best" and "running" belong in the same sentence.} My knees tend to give out on me, and my feet always hurt -- hence, I used to avoid running like the plague.

However, there's something about running that totally kicks your metabolism into high gear. Last year, I followed this plan consistently starting in April... and I ran a 4-mile race on July 3rd. {Granted, I came in 590th out of 600 runners. But hey, I finished. It was awesome.}

Speaking of awesome: I didn't run again, from July 4th, 2010, until, oh... April 4th, 2011.

So don't get me wrong. I hate running.

It's miserable.

But it sure does beat a Jillian Michaels DVD in the living room in the dead of February. Shudder.

Seriously: If you ever wanted to give running a try, this is the plan for you.

Give it a shot. We can be miserable together.

:)

***

P.S. Here's me and my little bro, just about two years ago:

There is {pretty much} nothing better than weird mid-air jumps at sunset on the beach.

This picture has nothing to do with this post... except that, at the time it was taken, I was blissfully unaware of running plans.

Blissfully, blissfully unaware...