positivelyBLEAK Grinning back into the abyss.

Do Couch-​To-​5K With PositivelyBleak!

The sun is just starting to peek out here in Boston after expe­ri­encing some epic weeks of rain, and it’s giving me the itch to get out and move around. I’d heard people talk about the Couch-​To-​5K plan, but as a smoker, I’d always written off run­ning as “some­thing other people do.” Then I read this testimony:

“With the help of the Couch to 5k pro­gram, In less than seven months, I went from a 47 year old, 104kg, 30 cig­a­rettes a day sort of guy to an 82kg, 0 cig­a­rettes, run­ning 45 to 50 kilo­me­ters a week sort of guy. Ten months after fin­ishing C25K I com­pleted my first marathon. Since then I have run another 3 marathons, as well as 3 ultra marathons including a 100km race.”

Yup, someone who put away more Marlboros then I do is run­ning ultra­ma­rathons. Maybe I am cut out for this. I’ve just fin­ished up week one and would like to invite you to hop on the plan and run with PosBleak!

Running is nice because it doesn’t cost much to start; a pair of run­ning shoes and a sports bra are really all you need. You can go with a buddy and chat or wheeze at one another, or you can throw a pair of head­phones in and absorb a new album with no inter­rup­tions. S. and I have been exploring the neigh­bor­hood and have dis­cov­ered all sorts of local things while out get­ting our sweat on. Even run­ning in the rain feels great. You’ll pass hot­ties, cute dogs, the crowd out­side of the local watering hole, and pretty parks if your neigh­bor­hood has them. I’ve been able to clear my head and become engrossed with my music, inter­rupted only by dodging broken glass on the road or pushing away a stray dog that decides to give pursuit.

But self-​improvement is a big part of self respect, and exer­cise does a bang-​up job of making you feel accom­plished and calm. Stress just van­ishes in favor of endor­phins, real­izing that it gets easier on every trip out the door makes me want to strive to get even better next time. It’s a goal for me to work toward, and 5K isn’t some­thing out­side of the scope of my abil­i­ties — it’ll just take some practice.

I will come straight out and say that shoe shop­ping was ridicu­lous; I vis­ited lots of sport shops and most only had a few women’s shoes, the majority of which were casual “fashion sneakers” as opposed to any­thing func­tional and safe to run in. Men should have an easy time of get­ting hooked up, but I wasn’t able to find a sales rep who could ana­lyze my stride (and fit me for a shoe that wouldn’t injure my already-​battered knees and ankles) until I went to an enor­mous run­ning shop in the “rich mall.” Be pre­pared to shop around, and don’t be afraid to ask for advice!

Reebok Zigtech

What I ended up with looks com­pletely ridicu­lous, so of course I picked the most hilar­ious and obnox­ious col­orway avail­able. (Boring shoes are for boring things!) They look like the bas­tard lovechil­dren of a Muppet and a piece of bub­blegum, but they feel light and com­fort­able, and jog­ging in the store felt great. They get their first real test drive on the road today, hope­fully they feel better than the cheap kicks I’ve been using until now!

Another effect I’ve noticed over the past few trips out is that I uncon­sciously cut down on my cig­a­rette con­sump­tion after­ward — per­haps this will finally exter­mi­nate my habit. (The extra dough I’d save would net me a couple of con­cert tickets or a nice pair of shoes every month, which is another nice motivator!)

What do you think, do you have the spine to get out and start run­ning? Are you already con­fi­dent in your ability to outrun Jason Voorhees? Fill me in with your tips and I’ll keep you updated in the coming weeks!