Hi, Julianne, You're a week ahead of me. I'm probably going to be doing week 3 more than once, though, since I didn't do any running last week. I just bought a treadmill and love it--I am happy to report that I now walk AND run on it without holding on! The only thing about this treadmill is that the speed goes up by 1/2 mph increments. I'm used to the ones at the gym that go up by .2 at a time. So I walk at 2.5 mph and jog at 3 mph. I know that sounds impossibly slow, but I'm barely 5 feet tall. Anyway, have a good week and I can't wait to hear from everyone else!

Ladyveg, nice work! Maybe you won't need to repeat W3 after all. If you're running at 3mph, you'd complete a 5K in a little over an hour, no? That's fine! Different paces for different folks. Plus, as you add mileage, your speed will creep up, so you should be faster by race time Starting W9... A record 7.1 mile week last week. Hopefully up to well over 7.5 this week.

Thanks, obiebyke! And congrats on your 7.1 mile week! I multiplied by 2 instead of 3, you're right, it's over an hour for a 5K. Wouldn't they have the race course taken down by then? I read last year's results for the 5K I want to do in July, and the slowest person took 36 minutes, and he was dressed as a port-o-potty! Well, hopefully I'll speed up. Julianne, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one jogging at that pace!

Go Obiebyke! well done

I had a good week last week. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance all the activities in my life. There are so many things that I want to do (running, tkd) or feel I need to do (schoolwork, work, housework, etc) that it seems a never-ending struggle trying to make sure nothing gets neglected. Last week I celebrated a personal milestone. I'm officially 50 pounds lighter than when I started trying to lose weight! I started at 210 while I was still gaining about a half pound a week. Ufff. That was very rough, psychologically! Lucky for me I was enrolled in a nutrition class at school that semester. I used that info to jump-start my efforts. After a little bit (maybe a month?), I started trying to run. I was probably still around 210 when I started running, but at least I'd stopped gaining weight!!! Last week I happily weighed in at 160. It's taken a long time that's for sure (I'm having trouble with placing it, but between 2-3 years, leaning towards 3), and there have been a lot of struggles. But it's worth it! I feel a lot better about myself and I can do a lot more (physically) than I used to be able to! Ladyveg - My first 5K times were about 44 minutes... and if you're only at week 3, you'll surely get faster! Don't stress it! And whether or not there are people in the 1 hour range depends on the race you go to. If you pick a larger race there'll be more people on the slow end of things too. It's not a bad idea checking out last year's numbers if you're concerned about being the only one. However, some races have "recreational" categories as well as "competitive" and the "recreational" categories 1) don't pay as much money and 2) don't have their times recorded officially. As a group, they're a bit slower so are more likely to have people near the end. Welcome meltchett! Julianne R - Movin' right along there! You're absolutely right not to worry about speed at this point in the game. Getting a solid foundation under you first is so much more important! Get in the habit of running now, stay injury-free, gradually increase your distances, and NEXT year you can worry about speed. Yes... there can be a next year if you do this year right! obiebyke - Congrats on covering your time! Way to go! Chickadee - your log looks like you had a good week last week! Niiice!

Hi Everyone, Sorry I disappeared for a few days. We were gone for the weekend and then I took a few extra days off to recover from all the walking we did! ladyveg - great job on w3. Don't worry about your speed right now - your focus now really needs to be on just moving - speed will come later. obiebyke - congrats on getting to W9. I can remember the first time through how exciting that week was for me. meltchett - welcome. I just started up again, too, so we will be going through this together. Wingz - congratulations on your weight loss. You should be very proud of yourself. I know what you mean about balancing things - it is hard to fit in everything you want to do (or need to do). chickadee - don't stress about your first 5k. Just relax and enjoy the experience. Julianne - sounds like you are moving right along. I just finished W1 today and did this run OUTSIDE! I was so excited - it was 47 and sunny for a change! I did the 5K route, so when the podcast was over for W1 I just walked the rest of the way home. It took me 47 minutes to go the 5K. Now on to W2 . . .

I know I'm not supposed to do back to back days at this point, but yesterday was just too nice, so I did W2D1 outside. Temp was in the 50s. I am so ready for spring.