Four Weeks and Counting!

A month ago, I started a pool: How far into the Couch to 5K workout could I make it and how long will it take me. My bet was "giving up at Week 2, but taking a month to get there."

Well, it looks like I've already lost my own pool, because I have now completed 4 2/3 weeks of the program on track. My record for the most running in my whole life is now 2 8-minute intervals with a 5-minute walk break.

Today I am slated to run 20 minutes straight. If I'm successful (so far, so good!), I will have completed Week 5 in 5 weeks. So, freakin, awesome. Already, I've done so much better than I ever thought possible, and it's been easier and more fun than I expected.

I plan to employ some of the mind games I have learned over the last month to get myself through it. Here are some of the things I tell myself as I'm running.

• I am a runner
• My head feels fine, my neck feels fine, my shoulders feel fine, my arms feel fine...
• Shut up calves! I am in charge of you!
• By the time I reach that tree I'll be done
• I look so cute, I look so cute...
• 1 (step, step, step), 2 (step, step, step), 3...
• Halfway there, one more minute, 20 more seconds...
• Ring, you mother cussing bell, RING!!