Couch to 5K - the Dreaded Week 5, Day 3 TWENTY-MINUTE Jog!

Today was the dreaded W5D3 20-minute jog with NO walking intervals to make it easier - the first "really big run" in the C25K program. And........ Gypsy (the dog) and I survived! Yay!!!! Jogged the whole entire 20 minutes! Woooohoo!!!!! CLICK HERE for the song that was gonig thru my head when I finished. :) **high fives all around** I was sooooo nervous about today, seriously.... I knew I could run for 20 minutes, but wasn't sure if I could do it *yet* LOL!


The first five minutes were the worst... my legs were complaining about being forced to move so quickly, so early, warmup stretches & walk notwithstanding! I remember thinking, again, "People do this for long periods of time and actually have FUN????!?" Ha! But I kept at it and eventually my legs quit their complaining as Gyspy & I got into the jogging more.

It was interesting to notice all the various mind games and thoughts I had to come up with thruout the 20 minutes to keep going! I alternated between focusing on where I was jogging next (next light post, next sign, etc) to mentally calculating approximatley how far along I was, to thinking, "Only XX more minutes to go! easy! piece of cake!" etc. And all along, I just kept plugging along - really slowly, lol - but plugging along nonetheless. :) And before I knew it, the jog was over! Including my five-minute warmup walk, I'd circled the track 5 1/4 times - just shy of two miles. So I tacked on an extra five or so minutes to my cooldown walk (which was at a snail's pace cuz I was TIRED! ha!) to complete that final lap on the track. During the course of about 35 minutes total, Gypsy & I went a grand total of exactly two miles - 20 minutes jogging, about 10-15 minutes of warmup & cooldown walking. Me moving forward on my feet for ANY miles is nothing short of amaziing - ha!

When we got back to the car, I put Gypsy in the backseat and turned on the a/c. Left the front door open so I could hear the radio as I did my after-stretches. Then, in a really neat coincidence, one of my favorite radio devotionals came on: "Christian Working Woman" with Mary Welchel. I positively got chills when I heard the opening verse - and actually, the whole entire message was eerily accurate and very well-timed -- it was on perserverance! Check it out:

Friday, August 28, 2009 - Five Things We Need to Re-Learn

Do you give up too easily? Do you keep wishing for the easy way out of everything you face? It's likely you, like me, could use a lesson or two in how to persevere. Lots of people make good starts; not too many complete the course.

We read in Hebrews 12:1 that we should run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Note that each of us has a unique race marked out. Your race may be different from mine, but the important thing for both of us is to hang in there and cross the finish line.

The night is darkest just before the dawn, and all too often we quit the race when it gets dark and bleak, when the finish line is just around the corner. In the first chapter of James we read that "perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Without perseverance we won't reach spiritual maturity. That's why we need to learn perseverance.

How often do you feel like quitting? I can remember just a few weeks ago saying to the Lord, "What use is it, Lord? I don't see light at the end of the tunnel and I'd just like to walk away from the whole thing." You know, if you have those kinds of thoughts you might as well talk to God about them. He knows what you're thinking anyway. But God reminded me that I'm called to be faithful, to persevere, and I had to learn it all over again.

Hebrews 12:13 says, Don't wander away from the path but forge steadily onward. On the right path the limping foot recovers strength and does not collapse. Therefore, we need to make certain we're on the right path, and then by George, stay on it regardless. Even if you're just limping along, don't stop. As we hang in there, our limps are healed and we're able to cross the finish line.

How often do we quit as soon as we develop a limp? We failed, we weren't able to accomplish something we had planned, the resources we were counting on didn't come through, things didn't go as smoothly as we hoped. We got a "hitch in our get-along," as the cowboy said, and that ended the race for us. We quit! But the Bible says keep going on the right path even with your limp.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2)." Proving faithful is perseverance, and we can learn to be faithful and to persevere. I'm telling you, I'll take a faithful person any day over one with bigger talents or gifts who isn't willing to hang in and get the job done—to stick with it through thick and thin times.

I want to encourage you to learn perseverance. Quitters don't win and winners
don't quit, and God's looking for people with endurance. Let's stick by the stuff and make it to the finish line by his grace.

To order Mary’s book
Think About What You Think About, call us at 1-800-292-1218 or visit our website http://www.christianworkingwoman.org/.

“Keeping Your Heart and Soul at Work” is a one-day seminar on September
26 for the woman who wants to better integrate her work and her faith. Click on
this link to register and for a brochure http://www.christianworkingwoman.org/events_details.php?eventKey=46

I mean, seriously - how amazingly dead-on is that?????????? I about fell over! It seemed to me that this was God's way of letting me know He was smiling with me, and encouraging me to keep going! :) Too darn cool.

So, Week 5 officially done! On to the next!!!!!!! ***big giant grin***