A few months back, I went to cheer on my friend Leo in his 1st ever full marathon, (he’s done a lot of running but never the full 26 miles before) I stood on the side lines smoking a cigarette laughing at the thought of someone running 26 miles for no reason other than to say they can. Then when he finished at his goal, I was sooooo happy for him!

At some point during then and now I had the “greatest idea” that by the end of the year I would run the half marathon, (which at the time I thought was only 6 miles- I have no idea where my math skills were at that moment) when I mentioned it to Leo, he said “Awesome, do it, I’ll help with your training if you need it.” Then I was told how far that I was really going to be going and I said, “YEAH RIGHT NOT GONNA HAPPEN.”

Well, I guess you gotta start somewhere. I googled a bit and found a 5k run coming up (within a reasonable amount of time for me to see if I can even handle a half of a mile) and I went walking on the track by my house last night. I walked for 1.40 miles and had no problems- well, my legs are hurting today but within reason. I did have a problem with the “walk” when a song came on my iPod that for some reason put the idea in my head that I should run for a bit, that “bit” turned into about 5 seconds of me not breathing and feeling like I was going to die at that moment. So, as far as me “running” that’s not going to be happening. Hopefully, if I “cut-down” smoking I can get to the jogging point.

I have unrealistic goals- but I always set them like that because I always think I can do anything I put my mind to. I want to finish the 5k in 30 minutes. Without running at all, it’s near impossible, actually, it is impossible. So I asked Leo what he thought, he said with training I could do it in 45 mins, I asked Randall and he said 50 mins.

I got an iPhone app called Nike+GPS which is very helpful and at the same time makes me sad, (I’ve only used it for my one and only “walk” so it’s just me be being insane on why it made me sad) it plays your playlist, it cheers you on, it shows your pace, your average speed per mile- tons of great stuff! Leo guessed because I smoke and can’t handle stairs that I would be at 16-17 mins per mile- I was at 18 mins per mile. – see it made me sad.

I am going to keep you guys updated here about the “training” if ANYONE has advice (besides to quit smoking, don’t bother) on training or running- or if anyone wants to run any of the runs I’m doing- post here and let me know! I will update this blog every day I run with the info from the Nike GPS app. You can all watch my progress and see if I suck or succeed! (feel free to cheer me on, because when the app does that it makes me smile in a silly sorta way)

I will post a blog with tons of pictures of my broken bones and me with an oxygen tank on a gurney the day of the 5k.

April 23rd 2011 @ 8am (PST)

http://www.rynorunning.com/las-vegas-5k.php

I have entered in the general run which is: General 5K: Set your PR on this fast, flat course. Prizes are issued to the top 3 finishers in each age division per gender and include free dinners, awesome gift certificates and exciting merchandise.

If I win a prize I will cry, seriously. But, that’s not gonna happen- unless you guys just randomly send me “prizes”. I don’t really care about the prize I just want to reach my goal.

So for the first run this was the outcome:

3/4/2011

1.40 miles- 18’22/mi-  25.48 minutes- (burned 97 calories)

pace at fastest was 10″7″ slowest was 21’27″

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3/5/2011