Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Humpty Dance!

Happy Hump Day, all! That phrase always makes me giggle inside. Wanna know where I first heard it? My seventh-grade teacher. He was an old man, so it was a tad weird.

My last post about my faux plateau got me thinking about how I need to step it up — literally. My friend Elizabeth has a way of getting me to do something even when I’m unsure about it, but in a good way, of course! She texted me the other night and said we should run a 5K together in September. WE’RE GONNA DO IT!!!! Neither of us are big runners, so this is a pretty big deal.


This 5K is part of Applefest in La Crescent, MN — known as the Apple Capital of Minnesota. Our registration fee gets us a long-sleeved T-shirt and, get this, A BAG OF APPLES! The proceeds from the race are going to a handful of good causes in La Crescent, which makes me more than happy to hand over my dough. But most of all, soooo pumped about the bag of apples!!!! Oh, and they provide apple cider at the finish line. How cute is that?! I’ll probably stick with water, but who knows?

My hometown in Wisconsin is just over the Mississippi River from La Crescent, and I have very fond memories of driving over to this awesome apple market with my mom. They have nearly 50 kinds of apples, so we’d walk around the shop, slice off a piece of each, and then leave with some bags of our favorites. Yummers! I heart fresh apples. Things just taste better when they’re grown locally. Oh my gosh, I just called my mom while writing this because I’m getting nostalgic. My mouth is watering.


Now that I have an actual event with a set date, I NEED TO WORK IT. This morning I woke up early and went for a 30-minute run/walk. It felt so good! (I need to remember that feeling so it’s easier for me to roll out of bed rather than reset the alarm.) I warmed up with a brisk walk for a few minutes and then told myself that I’d run for the duration of the next song that came on my iPod. It was my lucky day! Layla by Derek and the Dominos popped up — that’s a seven-minute song. And you know what? I did it. I ran for the entire song. Then I walked for a minute and ran for another two. Then I walked for a minute and ran for another three. You get the idea :) Basically, I just made up my own rules for running/walking based on my music and mood.


I’ve looked at the Couch-to-5K running plan, and I think I’ll tweak it to my liking. I’m not really at “couch” level, so why would I begin there? I’m closer to the Week 3 or 4 level, so I’ll probably try that. I only have a little more than seven weeks until the event anyway, so this works out quite nicely.

Back to this morning: I stretched when I got home from my run and decided to try something new to me. Mapmyrun.com. Why haven’t I used this before!??! It’s pretty neat, let me tell you. I just clicked around on the map of my route and voila! I now have an accurate measure of how many miles I’m trekking. My past method was based on my driving the route and just guessing the difference the street and my actual course. For instance, I estimated my Como Lake route at 4.8 miles. Mapmyrun.com calculates it at 5.2 miles. Ooodang! I’ve been going farther than I thought! Love it.

I’m going for a walk with Elizabeth tonight, so of course we’ll need to take the Como Lake route, with my new knowledge and all. We’re both gonna be looking so hott for her wedding in less than two weeks ;) ALSO, hollaaaaa to my friend Danielle. Happy birthday, chica!

I’m very motivated right now, if you can’t tell. I feel like doing a humpty dance right here in my chair. Burn some extra cals and make it a great Hump Day!


10 comments:

  1. Keep up with the positive attitude! You will do great with your run! I love that they give out a bag of apples. I coolest thing I have ever seen done at a 5K race was they gave out string cheese to the 1 mile runners (but not the 5k-ers!) since the race was called the RAT (run a trail) race. Good luck with your training....remember that it should be fun!

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  2. a race where you get a bag of apples?! That sounds like my cup of tea!!!

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  3. I'm doing my first 5k in September as well. I started the c25k this week at week 4--it's perfect. Today is day two for me in terms of the plan and I'm actually looking forward to it. Yay for us turning into runners. I just wish my 5k had apples at the end. Mine is for kidney health....all I get is a free kidney screening. Ha.

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  4. Lizzy!! Back away from the apples, you just kicked your 20,000 a day habit! HAHA!

    Amanda, I'm totally going to randomly peek around the corner into your cube in an attempt to catch you doing the "humpty dance" in your chair. HAHA...I'll take a picture!

    I love the 5K idea. Do you remember 2+ months ago you WERE NOT a runner?

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  5. I just did my first 6 mile run. It was amazing! I teared up crossing the finish line. Good luck training!! You will do awesome!

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  6. Hey Amanda! Omg how cute is that race giving out apples and apple cider?! Love it! You can totally do this! I think it's great you're doing it with a friend. Having a motivational friend is like the best tool in the "weight loss book" if you ask me. You might want to check out Erin's blog here about her own experience with the couch to 5k program: http://musingsofmrsmount.blogspot.com/2009/07/couch-to-5k-hope-for-novice-runner.html I thought it was very motivational!
    Oh Amanda, you're gonna rock that race!

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  7. EEEKE!! You told people! Now we actually have to do it.

    Good thinking. Can we call ourselves "Team Run 4 Fun"? Just wondering. See you in three hours (I'm bringing Ohna. You should bring Edwyn?)

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  8. WHoo! Way to go on signing up for 5k! Looking forward to reading your journey to it and through it.

    I love apples too. In cali they have a place called Oak Glen where you can pick our own apples and then the stores have tons of apple samples of different types and apple ciders! It's my favorite place to go in Oct/Nov when they are in season.

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  9. good job on the plan for the 5k! i wish it was closer so i can cheer you on at the finish line!!

    i agree that's it difficult to wake up in the morning to walk but once i get going i definitely don't regret it. and overall i have more energy throughout the day so it's definitely worth it. and guess what? i bought myself some 2lb weights so i can be just like you!! :) however, they definitely make it difficult to carry my sigg and keys and i hate bringing a bag because then it's awkward to jog... so, i definitely have to figure out a solution to this problem :) love you much!

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  10. Oh well done for signing up for a 5K. How exciting! And you get a bag of apples!

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