Wogging*

*Wogging is the term my friend Molly helped me come up with to describe what I've been doing lately: walking/jogging. I made a goal to run a 5k by September, which is kind of a big deal for me! I've always wanted to be a runner, and since I've been out here by myself I have "run" (pun intended) out of excuses not to exercise.

I'm doing the Couch-to-5k Running Program, which took me from doing almost no exercise to gradually increasing the amoung of jogging I do (and decreasing the amount of walking,) each week. It's a 9 week program, and I'm 33.3% through it. It's very do-able, and encouraging to see the progress. Here are the things I did to get ready, and what I'm doing now to make sure I stick with it:

1) I had to start walking normally. Ever since I can remember, I've walked with my toes pointed out a little (I'll just blame this one on my mom; she never told me to walk normally or to not stick a q-tip all the way in my ear. She did teach me not to pop my knuckles, though. Thanks mom!) For a month, I made a conscious effort to walk pointing my toes straight out in front of me. I think having my toes pointed out is what led to many knee problems in the past, so I was hopeful I could avoid most sidelining injuries this way.

2) I had to start walking more. Even though the program is called "Couch-to-5k," I wanted to give myself any advantage I could. Luckily, all I had to do was my daily walk to and from the Metro from home and work. I walk about 20 minutes a day.

3) I found a running program I liked. This program seemed totally realistic to me, and it's something that I can do whenever and wherever I want. It's also something I can do by myself without any equipment.

4) I'm drinking tons of water! Feeling hydrated makes running even easier.

5) I make awesome iPod shuffle playlists. With the program I'm on, you switch between walking and jogging every few minutes (the intervals depend on the week). I put some kickin songs together and end them early depending on how long I'm supposed to be jogging or walking. When the song is over, I know I'm supposed to switch up what I'm doing. It's fun.

6) I switch up my wog route. There are lots of places to run around town, but there is a trail specifically for running/walking/biking down the street with cool stretching/exercising stations along the way. There is also a little path by the Metro station, so if I don't want to go too far I just head that way.

Well, part of the reason I wrote all this was to feel accountable to keep going. This is very uncharacteristic of me because a.) I don't usually set goals, and b.) I don't usually tell people about them because then I might fail and that would make me sad. But I think this is a step in the right direction. I've had to change up a lot of things since the move, which has left me feeling pretty vulnerable. Luckily, I've been able to adapt and I'm trying to pick up a few good habits along the way.

Go wogging!