Baby steps and huge commitments.

I've been running. Short runs interspersed with a lot of walking, but it's still running. I'm running because I made two major commitments. 

The first was to sign up for the Lilac 5k, which I ran back in 2010. I told everyone I was doing it, and had a lot of people say they would run with me. So I have to run it. And I don't want to embarrass myself running it. The last time I ran it, I ran a PR of 33:26. I would like to hit that again, or if possible improve on it.

The second commitment I made followed logically behind that. I have a friend who just got himself certified as a Running Coach. He agreed to coach me (virutally, since he's out in cali) in exchange for a short blurb for his eventual website. So I've committed to a training program. 

I am terrified that I'll fall off the exercise wagon again. Last night I won, I was so tired and I felt so lazy when I got home from work, but I made myself get dressed in my running gear, put a leash on the dog, and walk out the door. I convinced myself to at least do a good long walk. Then at one point, I convinced myself to run for a bit. Then I convinced myself to keep running. When I started to get to the "I can't run anymore" point, I walked, and then, convinced myself to run again. I ended up running (with walk breaks in between) for a mile. It's not that far, but it's a start. A baby step forward.

I'm thinking of instituting a couple of motivational tools that have worked for me in the past. One was a "gold star" system. I got a star for every workout i did on a calendar that was posted where I would see it every day. I actually had a whole system for which color star I got for what kind of workout, but I think, since I'm going to have a training plan this time around, just getting a star for every workout would work.

The second tool was one I heard about recently, a workout "tip jar", where every time I complete a workout, I put a dollar in the jar. Every month I can use the money in the jar to treat myself to something, new shoes, a massage, whatever. What i can get will be determined by how many workouts I completed. I'm thinking of adding a "bonus tip" for every full week I complete.

I'm still tracking my calories, mostly just to keep myself within range of where I should be. I forgot to do a weigh in this week, so we'll see this Saturday if anything I'm doing is making a difference there.

I guess I'm still right at the starting line, Laying foundation work, even though it feels like I've been starting forever. I guess starting forever is better than not starting at all.