Happy New Year happy followers! I hope you are all well and recovering from any New Year's Eve revelry you were engaging in! :)
As for me, my revelry was minimal and my resolve maximal- and today, January 1, 2012 (HOW WEIRD), I started the Couch to 5K program. My back has been feeling back to its pre-injury status, it handled a 40 minute walk last week with no trouble, and I have another acupuncture appointment scheduled for Friday. All of that, combined with it being a fresh slate of shiny new year-ness, meant it was the perfect time to start easing back into running again. While a part of me (the Ego part...) balks at starting back at the beginning of running, the rest of me (the Self, and the BRAIN) know that to protect my back, it's best to take it easy.
As the subject line indicates, this is not my first time around with the Couch to 5k. I've started it.... gosh... 10? 15? times. For the longest time, I'd start.... get to week 5 (the scary week)... and return to the couch! Last year, after I'd been running consistently for some time and had finished several 5k races (though never running the entirety of them dammit- I'd always fall short about 5 minutes), I had another injury to contend with in my knees/hips. I rehab-ed carefully and then, like now, started back at the beginning of the Couch to 5k. But that time, I finished it. And then worked to go from 5k straight to a Half-marathon. I think therein was my downfall in the end, as by the end of the year (and more or less, by mid year) I was back on the couch again.
This year I have a different goal. I do not want to end up back on the couch!! So, for the next 9-10 weeks (giving myself a leeway week in case the scary week does take 2 tries) I'll be doing the Couch to 5k again, and aiming to do a little monitoring here. From 5k, I'll train for a 10k. From 10k to a 15k. And from THERE to a half.
I will NOT end up back on the darn couch!!
