Terrible Twos to 5K

I signed up last week to run in my first ever 5K. I have walked in plenty of 5K's but I have NEVER attempted to run in one. This is really a very big commitment for me; just the time needed to train for it is something that I am going to have to squeeze into our already hectic lives! The physical part goes without saying, come on....I have never been a runner. I am the type of person that needs a concrete goal to accomplish something. I can't just say "I want to eat better, exercise more and be healthier". Where that all sounds great - putting it into motion is a different story. My friend Lisa and I have been saying that we are going to do all of these things for a few months now but we haven't actually committed ourselves to it 100%. I will have to write another post about all of the crap that Lisa and I have put ourselves through together - it's hilarious! The list includes but is not limited too - fasting, Atkins, numerous Biggest Loser contests, colon cleanses ((thanks Blake)), the body wrap shop, the 3-day breast cancer 60 mile walk, soup diets, YMCA aerobics, Anci Berry chews, ear staples, hypnosis, going to Traders Village to buy Stacker 3 pills with Effedra after it was banned in the US, weekly office weigh-in's, ordering pills online that turned out to be super scary and the packaging was actually written in Chinese, Weight Watchers, and a million other "get skinny/get healthy" ideas. For some reason the two of us always seem to talk each other into crazy crap - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but all in all he have a great time trying. It has been a hilarious 10 years of working together! Back to the story... I was in her office last week talking about the fact that we have not been staying on track and decided we needed a new goal. My first thought was something along the lines of a bikini picture being posted on Facebook for whoever lost the least amount of weight in a certain period of time. She wasn't going for that idea at all - extreme YES but it would certainly work. :) I suggested a half-marathon, to which she snorted while laughing at me. I always seem to have big dreams - but if I make a commitment then I always stick to it. So then we decided to commit to running in this 5K in December. If it goes well then we plan to do a 10K in February and go up from there. I am pretty excited about it. I started a boot camp/kickboxing style aerobics class about 6 weeks ago. It is really hard, but I LOVE it! If I can make it through that class - I can certainly train to run a 5K! We have plenty of time to slowly work our way up to running that much. I downloaded a podcast from i-tunes that is a program called "Couch to 5K". It basically has you walk and run in intervals over a 12 week period and each week there is a little more running so you build up your endurance. My plan was to train on Thursday nights at Nolan's t-ball practice, Saturday mornings and Sunday nights since I have my workout class on M/W already. I think that this plan will have to change after last night's ordeal...

We got to practice on time with Nolan's glove - yay! Scott and Nolan walked over the the practice field. I had packed Hudson snacks, a sippy cup, and a few books. I figured that would be enough crap to keep him happy in the stroller while I walked. I don't have a jogging stroller but since this first week is mainly walking I figured it would be okay to just use our regular stroller and figure out something else in the next few weeks. He instantly got mad when he saw that Scott and Nolan were going over the field and he was trapped in the stroller. He cried for a minute but I was able to distract him with graham crackers and get down to business. I turned on my i-pod and started my warm up. It was only about two minutes before he started crying again and was done with the crackers. I just kept grabbing things out of the basket that occupy him for a few more minutes for about the first 15 minutes. All that I had left were fruit snacks and so I ripped them open and handed them to him. He LOVES fruit snacks but we really don't eat them very often because seriously they are just glorified candy. Once they were gone he flipped out. He was screaming for more fruit snacks at the top of his lungs. I tried to just distract him with things in the park but he was pissed. I had walked to the other end of the park right at the beginning - far away from practice so that he would hopefully forget that Nolan was out and free. I knew that the poor soccer moms at this end of the park were probably sick of hearing him scream. At this point I could either stop my training and go back to Nolan's practice and fight Hudson for the next 45 minutes to keep him off the field and out of the mud OR I could ignore his fit and just keep going and hope that he stopped. I decided on the second option since neither were a sounding all that great and I really need to start my training. I went for 10 more minutes and Hudson cried the entire time, I finally gave up so I just skipped the cool down and started to head back to the field. I knew that all of the soccer moms were at us. They probably thought I was one of those moms. The ones that care more about themselves then their children...but seriously, look at me, do I look like I am always out exercising and making time for myself...NO. It was one night, good lord. We got back over to the team and watched the last half of practice. Hudson was a hoot and was back to his old happy self. He was talking to all the mom's being the sweetest, cutest toddler ever. (of course this was because he was finally out of the stroller and in the mud) I even thought to myself - these moms don't even know about the out of control fit that he just threw, or how embarrassed I was to be one of those moms. When practice was over the coach walked over and said "Well I guess this little fella is better now!" I really didn't think anything of it and I just thought he said that because he saw him cry when we walked away from the start of practice. As Scott and I walked back to the car he told me that he could hear Hudson screaming the entire practice. GRAND. The whole time I was thinking that our little spectacle was under wraps when really the whole dang team heard it even from half a mile away. Thanks Hud! Guess I will not be training on Thursdays after all. Hopefully none of the parents report me to CPS! Ha ha!