day 1 - couch to 4 miler

I can't believe I woke up at 5:25am during my summer vacation to go run! Honestly it wasn't that bad getting up that early. I would have preferred sleeping in until 10am, but I need to do this program. Today was day 1 of the couch to 4miler. It is an 8 week program where beginners go from run/ walk to running 4 miles. I felt like signing up for this and knowing that there are people who are in the same boat as me would motivate me more to get out and run. 25 people showed up this morning. We started out with a 5 minute warm up then ran 60 seconds, walked 90 seconds (8 times) then cooled down for 5 minutes and stretched. It was a bit hard - my shins really tightened up. They had 3 running coaches with us. One up front, one in the middle and one in the back. As they ran and walked along with us, they asked how we were feeling and if anything hurt. They made suggestions on how to land on my heel instead of the middle of my foot. It was hard at first then my shins began to loosen. I really felt great realizing that my workout was finished for the day and it was only 6:45am. They gave us a book of what we will be doing for the rest of the 8 weeks. This whole week we will continue to run 60 seconds and walk 90 seconds. The running coaches said even if it gets too easy continue the plan - it will make you a stronger runner. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's 6pm run. I can't skip. If you know me then you know if I skip one time it turns into skipping a whole bunch more. It's kind of like college!