Couch to 5k

Home in Port Charlotte
Going down to 62 tonight...brrrrrrr.

The boat remains at Gulf Coast Marine, awaiting an evaluation tomorrow. Our backyard dock looks strange without the boat there. My honey did a wonderful job of detailing the beach and deckwalk out back. It looks beautiful. I mowed the grass and used the weedeater to burn down turn weeds. It was a really nice day again today. So much so that we were able to leave the windows open for the last 24 hours.

My walk was almost chilly, dressed in shorts and a tank top. My sister, Shannon, called me today and shared a really inspiring website with me. It's a free exercise program called Couch to 5k. It's designed to take a total couch potato to a 5k (3.2 miles) runner in 9 weeks.
It's based on an exercise philosophy called "interval training" where you walk a while, run a little, walk some more, run some more, etc until you gradually get where you are running 3.2 miles without walking. The whole thing starts at just a 20 minute workout and ends with a 30 minute run, some 9 weeks later. The website has a link to another site called Cool Runnings, which is where the downloadable audio podcasts are. You can download, for free, the program guy talking you through the walk/run. It has inspirational music for the run portion. It sounds really good. I'm going to do it.

Shannon is in the second week of it and we talked about someday doing a 5k or 10k together. I'm in my 8th week of exercising and feel like I could use some more structure to help me out. This sounds like just what I'm looking for. When I walk 5 miles, it takes me 90 minutes. If I can get the workout I seek, which is building up to being a runner and not a walker, and be able to do it in 20-30 minutes a day instead...I will likely stick with the whole regimen long term.

My dad is driving from Arizona to Florida to spend the winter with us. He is in Texas tonight and plans on arriving here on Thursday. He calls every night to update us. It sounds like he's having a great time.