Fitness: Running

We love to eat WAY TOO MUCH and have to do something to counter our weekly cheese intake (P.S. I just got an Irish Whiskey Cheddar from the farmers market…how amazing does that sound!). Lucky for us, one of our favorite hobbies happens to be running. We can all three do it together (except Ben and Rocky are considerably faster than I), it’s easy and requires little athleticism and let’s be honest…I’m lacking on the later. We love the idea of being able to walk out our front door and just go. Running is good for the body and it’s also a fabulous stress reliever…something we can all use.

We’ve both run 5 & 10Ks and two half marathons and are signed up for the Disney Half Marathon on January 7th and will be signing up for the Publix Georgia Half Marathon on March 18th. The Publix race is always around my birthday…an awesome way to celebrate :).

Me and Rick (NC Neighbor) Pre-Race - Publix Half Marathon - 2011 (He ran his first Marathon in under 4 hours!)

Post-race stretching - Publix Half Marathon - 2011

Post-Rate - Publix Half Marathon - 2010

Back in early Spring I encouraged some co-workers to pick up running. They saw my success with my first and second half marathon and watched me go from an awkward jogger to a semi-serious runner and knew that if I did it, they could too. The program I used and recommended to them was  Couch to 5 K.  It’s a simple program that gradually eases you into the sport over 9 weeks with a series of 3 running/walking workouts per week.

Your First 3 Weeks

The best part about the program is it’s versatility. You can do the runs outside or on a treadmill, use your own music and a stopwatch to keep track of your timing or download one of many podcasts (there are also some available on iTunes) and pick the three days of the week that work best for you. Plus, it’s available in 29 different languages.There’s even a Pooch to 5K program for your furry baby!  The C25K website also offers forums to connect you with other novice runners, give info on gear and shoes and links to other great running sites and tells you where to look when you’re ready to start training for longer races. My favorite training plan website is from running legend Hal Higdon.

Post-race: Beat the Heat 5K with my co-workers - Winston Salem, NC - July 2011

I’m happy to report that the girls are still running and actually enjoy it (or so they tell me)!

Ben and I recently stopped by our local running store, Phidippides, to grab some new shoes since we’ll be doing lots of training in the coming months.

My Shoes: Asics Gel 1170

Ben's Shoes: Nike Lunarglide 3

Best of all, we got 15% off the entire bill by using a SparkQuest code that we got online.

Anyone else gearing up for races in the near future?