The Goal

Goal: to walk in the Thanksgiving 5K without wanting to die, rather than enjoy dinner, later that day.

I don't feel like this is unrealistic--I am pretty confident in my walking and can usually walk much longer and farther than I think I can. It's more like I want to keep up, I want to be able to chat and enjoy the day and I want to do so without being so out of breath, it's uncomfortable. I don't want to run--or I don't need to to feel successful--and really, at this point, running doesn't even sound appealing. I have no doubt that I am one of those "she shouldn't run" people. As much as I'd LOVE to be one of those people cruising along in their cute running shorts, I don't see it. Also, if I'm honest with myself, my knees wouldn't approve either. Maybe at a lesser weight but not now.

I decided I needed a plan so I looked up the Couch-to-5K plan and printed that out. In reviewing it, there was talk about running and walking. Besides my lack of desire to run, I have Ms Abby with me and there is no such thing as running with the backpack on. So I kept looking. I found the Mayo Clinic 5K run: 7-week training schedule for beginners. Besides the word "run" in the title, it looks perfect. It talks about walk/run throughout the schedule and says only follow the "run" part if you're trying to incorporate running into your plan. For me, at this point, that's a no.

So yesterday I took a walk. 30 minutes with Ms Abby on my back and at a constant stroll. No heavy lifting, besides the Abby-ness, and stops here and there to let Ms Abby feel the leaves or see a random guy at the park flying an electric something. It was nice. I watched my time and weaved around randomly in order to get the full 30 minutes and ended the walk with a meeting of new neighbors and hellos to old ones and a chance meeting with an old buddy/neighbor and her mini biker. Yah! And Ms Abby did great in the backpack--she seems to like the cruising and TALKED THE WHOLE TIME! Cutest thing ever.

So today the schedule says: walk 30 minutes. I can do that...did it yesterday, right? Food-wise, it's payday, which means coffee day for my treat. Not a great choice--I'm not feeling fabulous and know I should have gone with a healthier choice. And tomorrow is weigh-in day...

So...brainstorm...what would be a better/healthier/cheaper payday treat?