Run, Jennifer. Run!

Race for the Cure, 2007

As you might have read here, I haven't been doing so well at this whole working out thing. And by "not so well," I mean not at all. Not even a little, bitty bit. The most exercise I get is walking to and from the car each day (I do use the stairs to go to my office though. Gold star for effort?) and lifting food to shovel into my mouth.

I realized that, if I was really going to stick with a workout program, I needed some kind of goal, and I needed to have some way of keeping myself accountable to whatever program I adopted. I decided to download the Couch to 5K app for my iPod and train to run a 5K.

Couch to 5K gradually builds your running/walking time over a nine-week period with running a 5K in its entirety at the end. The app is pretty neat. It tells you whether to run or walk and keeps up with your time, which made my workout go by faster as I wasn't staring at the timer on the treadmill wondering if it was time for me to be done yet. Although, when the electronic guy voice commanding me to run, it creeps me out. I picture a kidnapper standing behind me with a chloroform rag in his hand. Evading a kidnapper is pretty good motivation to run, I think — that and a cheeseburger dangling in front of you.

The program encourages you to choose a 5K race in your area to participate in. Lucky for me, my favorite 5K is eight weeks away! I've always loved the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and walked it most years with my "In Celebration of" sign pinned to my back for my mom, crowded on all sides by women of all ages covered in all shades of pink usually carrying a sign with some boob-related humor — not to mention the high school marching bands who line the route playing Usher's "Yeah" or Beyonce's "Single Ladies" or the motorcycle guys and firefighters who cheer you on as you pass. It's really a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially when my walking partner is my sister Courtney and all of the joyful femininity really irks her (She does love her some Usher, though).

So, I've registered for the Oct. 15 race and am beginning to work toward my goal. You can track my Couch to 5K progress on my Facebook. You can also encourage me in my training by helping me raise money for Race for the Cure. Simply visit that link and donate however much you'd like to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Knowing that people are "invested" in my progress will be a huge motivator. (Your money will go directly to them regardless of my running it well or not. It's not like my elementary school "Fun Run" when people would donate $2 for every time I circled the track. Usually I raised about $2... I got a cute "Turkey Trot" t-shirt out of it, though.)

Anyway, I hope that promising all four of my readers that I will accomplish this task I will keep me on track and help me meet my goal. Otherwise you four will never let me live it down...