Couch to 5K Update

The last time I updated you all on my Couch to 5K progress I was in the middle of week 4 of 9 and progressing nicely in my running. Well, one of the things I was doing was avoiding looking ahead to the coming weeks so that I couldn't try to talk myself out of going on days when the workouts were going to be especially challenging. Week 5 is when the runs that were scaring me started, but as it turned out they weren't that bad!

I just finished week 7 today and I'm still feeling pretty good about my progress. Now, if you do the math you'll see that I should be further than week 7 by now if I stuck to my 3 days a week running schedule. Well, the state fair, weddings, and an ingrown toenail (eew) interfered with my running and set me behind a little bit. I'm still going okay tho! I didn't run for 5 days this week and then picked right back up with my 25min run tonight. My pace was a little slower than I'd like, but really....when you consider I hadn't run for 5 days and my toe was still a little sore....I did pretty well! So, my goal for the coming 2 weeks worth of runs is to really stay on schedule and not let life interfere as much.

As was the case in the last post about my running endeavors, the podcasts and Runner+ have been instrumental in my success! The community on Runner+ has been awesome as ever and I even have a new Facebook friend out of it! I even have their iPhone app as one of my shortcuts so I can access my stats anytime (now that they've blocked the site at work...grrrrr).

I've had a lot of good feedback from this blog and from my Jog Log on Runner+ so I'm going to try and be better about posting updates more frequently than every 4 weeks! I figure I'll give an update at the end of the last week which should be 2 weeks from now and then keep you posted as I just keep on running 5K in preparation for my races.

As always, thanks for reading and wish me luck on the running! Good luck to those of you that are also working through the Couch to 5K program or any other fitness program!

Reggie's Sleepout 2008 Donations Needed!

Last year some friends and I participated in an event called Reggie's Sleepout. The event is held to raise awareness and money to address the critical problem of youth homelessness in Central Iowa.

Participants gather in the Drake football stadium and sleep under the stars in cardboard structures, tents, sleeping bags, etc in the cold of November. Teams are formed to raise funds for Iowa Homeless Youth Centers and The Des Moines Area Religious Council to help combat the issue of homelessness.

Another part of this event is the cardboard structure contest. Last year my friends and I created a huge cardboard replica of the 801 Grand building in downtown Des Moines to illustrate just how much space would be required to house all of the homeless in the state. It would take nearly 4 buildings the size of 801 Grand to house all of the homeless in the state as of 2005. That's a ton! Our creation was the biggest and most impressive structure at the event and it went a long way to put the size of the problem into perspective. This year, we're going even bigger and hope to increase awareness even more.

Our team, the Huddled Masses, would love to not only go bigger on the structure but also bring in an impressive amount of money for the event by way of fund raising from our friends and families. Donations of any amount would be greatly appreciated! And if you're interested in joining our team, just let us know!

Donate to our team, the Huddled Masses!

Learn more about Reggie's Sleepout: http://www.reggiessleepout.org

Thanks for reading and an extra big thanks to those who donate to the cause!