Journey to 5k - Weekend Edition

I am going to make this one quick because I've procrastonated writing about my run yesterday. I did not run or even attempt to today because it just wasn't in the stars. I went to a concert last night and slept in this morning. Tonight wasn't good either because by the time I got home from my daughter's tumbling it was already getting dark. I really do need to stop being Lazy Louise. I have less than 3 weeks now until my first 5k run that we may end up really just walking depending on how many people are there and what not.

So we will discuss Saturday. Yes, beleive it or not I did get up early on Saturday and go for a run. Ok so I didn't necessarily get up early so I could run, but I was already up so I said "what the heck?" and decided to go for a quick one. So I get my phone, grab my headphones and to the park I went. I start my nifty phone application as I'm walking to the park in hopes of not seeing any of the old geezers that are there every morning when I'm driving to work. I'm really not a morning person. Naturally I see 2 geriatrics walking their dogs the second I get to the corner of the park. I wave, smile and begin my warm up walk. As I get about half way around I pass this guy that is walking up to the park as though he is going to start running. I don't think anything about it. As I run around the park I don't see him so I just keep on concentrating on my breathing and my run. I feel as though I'm making great time. On my 3rd lap I see him coming back around the park. As we pass each other again, because he was going the wrong way, I catch a whiff of him. Now mind you, I didn't pay attention before and this time I was already feeling the beads of sweat drip down my face. I had to laugh as I started running again because all I could do was question my inner self. Who seriously prepares themselves for a run/jog/walk around the park and puts on cologne? Now don't get me wrong, he did smell good but seriously. I couldn't believe it. So I continue my journey around the park and being to think how I'm on my 3rd lap and I should be hearing the British, or maybe she's Australian, lady tell me I have hit 1 mile and give me all the stats that go along with it. I look at my phone and immediately want to throw it against the ground as hard as I can. I somehow hit the pause button but it told me I was at .01 miles in 14 mintues. As I'm beginning to question life I pass Mr. Smell Good again. Is it wrong that I took in a deep breath as I passed him? I did start running though because I didn't want it to seem strange that I was walking and breathing like that.

Mr. Smell Good then left the park down the street, I can only assume to go home. This guy really only walked a total of 1 lap in my 3. Now back to my failed phone application. Now I'm walking because I'm really trying to figure out how this happened. Did it have a sudden glitch and decide to pause itself because it didn't sense my movement? I then felt myself get very discouraged. I was originally pumped up to run 3 miles but with my phone application bugging out I felt so let down. I had in my mind that I was doing great. I wasn't looking at my phone to check my status every 10 seconds like I normally do. I was for once just going. I decided to do 2 more laps and then call it quits because I had already lost any motivation that I had before. During my cool down lap I had a conversation with myself, using my inner voice of course. I said "Self, have you become too dependant on stats and technology?" Do I really need all the time and distance to satisfy myself every time I make an effort to run? If I didn't I would think that 4 laps at the park means 2 miles and that 4 laps at the track equals 1 mile. Now depending on which lane you run in and if you stay in that lane the entire 4 laps, this could be true. However, if you are like me and you cut corners at the park or you have troubles staying in the same lane at the track then you are very off in your calculations.

Tonight I had to stop at the store to buy my son a specific brand of a backpack so I decided to pick up a new pair of running shoes to see if it helps the pain I feel after running. Being that tomorrow is a run day I will try them out. I'm kind of excited about this. I am also going to test my phone application to see if it craps out on me again. If it does I may go old fashioned and get a pedometer instead and use the timer function on my ipod since I have an armband for that and won't have to carry my phone.

I will update tomorrow. It is my Aunt's birthday and my mother mentioned taking her out to dinner but we shall see. Until then...