So I guess I sort of started an experiment. Well, I’m not sure if that’s really what it is. I guess it is in that I’ve never done this before, not fully, so I don’t know exactly how it will play out. That’s the experiment part. Except there’s more. I bet you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about by now.

Here’s the gist… I have been out of shape for a very long time. I might even say my whole life. I was a fat kid starting in about 4th grade, and I became a fat adult as well. I lost a lot of my weight around 2000, but then I’ve ended up gaining most of it back in the last 3 years or so. And I never even did get down to the weight I wanted to be. Once I got within about 10 pounds of it, but most of the time I used to hover around about 20 pounds higher than my goal weight. You don’t even want to know how far over that I am now.

I have also tried so many times to lose the weight. Sometimes I am successful. Most of the time I am not. And lately, I always seem to gain it back and then some. I’m sick of this. Honestly, I just like food. And I pretty much hate to exercise. I have started the Couch-to-5K running plan so many times. The farthest I have made it is, I believe, week 5. Whatever week it is that you end up first running for a full 20 minutes. Needless to say, I’ve never finished it, and I have never run in a 5k.

So I started it again. The Couch-to-5K plan, I mean. (I’ll just refer to it as C25K from here on out.) How is this news? Well, this time I think I probably have the best chance ever to succeed. Oh hell – I’m gonna succeed. Why? Because I have cheerleaders. I posted about my efforts on Facebook, and I decided to post about it every day that I run. I am a bit overwhelmed at the response. I even have a little recently acquired group of friends here that have either done the C25K not that long ago themselves or are currently doing it. And they all are consistently cheering me on and wanting to run my first 5K with me. This makes me happy. It’s exciting. And it is probably the biggest thing that keeps me motivated. I run because I look forward to writing about it every day. I run because I know that when I post about it, there are people out there watching for it, and that they’re proud of me. And I know that if I stop, they will be on me for it! I honestly just don’t want to let them down. But the cool thing is, knowing that I have this little cheering squad keeping an eye on me actually kind of makes running more fun. And that is why I think I have the best chance ever to make it this time.

I have to throw in there that I also love it that running has become both social and techy, two things that help to keep me motivated as well. I started today using the Nike+ Running app on my iPhone (I was using Nike+ on my iPod Nano) along with the C25K app with it. It makes running a little more social and interesting, because I have the C25K app telling me when it’s time to run and walk (I was constantly checking the timer before) and then I have the Nike+ app telling me when I hit 1 mile, 2 miles, etc. and also cheering me on when someone “likes” on Facebook that I am out running (the app posts a status to let them know). I also like that the Nike+ app tracks my distance and speed, so I can know if I’m getting slower or faster and people can see where I’m running. Yeah, I’m a nerd. I can’t deny it.

So I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna finish this time, and I’m gonna run a 5K. (I’m also going to stop using the word “gonna”, since it’s really not a word.) So to my cheerleading squad (you know who are), thank you for keeping me motivated and helping me stick with it. You will definitely be invited when I run that first 5K (and hopefully many more).

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