What Have I Gotten Myself In to?

One of the goals on my 30 Before 30 list is to run a 5k. Luckily, my BB wants to do this as well, so I have a partner in crime. We decided on the August 1st Challenge Cancer 5k in St. Paul. Neither one of us has ever run a 5k, so this could be interesting.

First, I want to thank a couple of people who sponsored me so that I could donate more to Challenge Cancer than just my entry fee.

My Grandma & Grandpa K!

My boy!

My pup (I think daddy may have lent her the money!)

Ok, now let me tell you the history of me and running. I don't like it therefore I don't do it. It's hard. I have been trying my whole life not to run and now here I am registered to run over 3 miles. You know in high school how you have to run the mile twice a year...well I barely ever did that. I used every excuse in and not found in the book. One time I told my gym teacher I had a dance competition that weekend and didn't want to be sore or risk injury, I was on a competitive dance team but we certainly did not have a competition. Another time I pretended to fall down the stairs on the way to the track and "sprain my ankle." It would much rather embarass myself falling down the stairs than I would coming in last in the mile...especially when all the boys in the class finished in like minutes and then just got to sit there and watch me struggle.

One of my favorite high school stories has to do with the mile. I had made up excuse after excuse and had finally run out....I was set to make up the mile with three other girls during the soccer week of gym class. Me and the other girls walked down to the track with a timer...we were instructed to time ourselves. One of us (and I swear it wasn't me) suggested we just walk around the track once and then multiply the time by 4...brilliant! And that's what we did. Well, turns out another gym teacher was spying on us and was a big fat tattle tale. My mom received a phone call that, as she tells it, went something like this:

Gym teacher: "Mrs. K...your daughter was caught cheating on a test."
My Mom: "What? That doesn't seem like something she would do."
Gym teacher: "Yes, Mrs. K. Kristin was caught cheating on the mile."
My mom (holding back laughter): Ok....I will talk to her.

My did talk to me....and she was not surprised I "cheated" on this test and thought it was riducious this damn gym teacher was so worked up about it. This is why I love my mom.

This past year I've been getting more into running...just because it's good for me. I still don't enjoy it but hope maybe one day I'll get to the point where I do. The furthest I've ever run, however is 1.57 miles and I've only run a full mile less than 10 times. Needless to say, I'm in trouble. PLUS, it turns out running outside in infinitely more difficult than running on a treadmill. So, to help me out I took a recommendation from a friend and checked out this Five Week 5k Training Program from the Runner's World website.

I got pretty excited thinking this could really help. 6 days a week is a lot, but I need to do this if I want to survive this 5k. I pulled out the calendar and counted back 5 weeks from August 1st and was completely shocked and panicked when I found out it's TODAY! I will be running a 5k five weeks from today!

WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF IN TO?