Not ready to make nice

Who knew that Dixie Chicks song would be the one to inspire me to run? If you're a regular reader, you probably know this already. I have decided to incorporate running into my routine. I started walking at the end of July and that has become much easier. I'm still not very fast, but I'm up to 5 miles without wanting to pass out. Instead of walking farther, I want to get faster and stronger, which I think will happen with running.

A friend recommended I start with 30 minutes -- 9 minutes walking, 1 minute running -- for a week. I tried that for the first time yesterday and it didn't work out so well. It ended up being more like 5 minutes walking, 30 seconds running. But my total time was 45 minutes. Today, I tried 4 minutes walking, 30 seconds running. And I went for 32 minutes total. It went OK. My legs just won't run for 1 minute, so I figure this is a good start. I really have no idea what I'm doing, though. What I do know is that my legs and other muscles can tell a difference. Nothing actually hurts, but I did push a few muscles. That's good, right?

Part of my plan was to create a playlist on my iPod that would motivate me to run. I already think I need to revise it because I played it yesterday and it just didn't inspire me. Today, I put the iPod on shuffle and I felt a surge of energy when "Not Ready to Make Nice" started to play. Again, regular readers know that music is very important to me. Every song has meaning and evokes emotion. I'll get the list right eventually.

For now, I'm just happy to be moving and happy to be out of my funk. I felt much better on Saturday and yesterday was good. But I was worried that last week's negative thinking might creep back in. Nope. I feel better than ever. Oh, and a really cool thing happened at the grocery store tonight ... I saw myself on one of those closed-circuit TVs. I honestly saw a different person from the one I normally see in the mirror. That's a good sign.