I have been a life-long non-runner.  Aside from running the bases in 3 pitch (not pretty) and enforced runs back in middle school (also not pretty), I have essentially avoided this activity.  Until now.

A few months ago, I decided that I needed to up my activity level in order to boost my weight loss/weight maintenance efforts.  I ended up trying the "Couch to 5K" program which essentially starts off interval training – run for a short period, then walk for a period.  Eventually, the running periods become longer, and the walking periods become shorter or non-existent, until at the end of the program I was running for 30 minutes straight.

I realized that I needed another program or goal to work towards, and mentioned this to a friend of mine.  Before I knew it, we were signed up for the 10km running clinic at a local running store, plus we've registered for a 10km and a 5km race.  The 10km race is before the 5km race.  Not sure where the logic is there…anyway.  My friend Amber has also already signed up for the Around the Bay Race – which is 30km long!!  I am still dragging my feet (literally and figuratively) on that one…but it is definitely a goal to shoot for, I suppose!!

So here's Amber and I in the glamorous pre-run shot…

no, we did not coordinate our outfits, it just happened that way, really.

now – for the really scary part….be warned…

BOO!  SCARY!!!  this is me stretching post-run (a few weeks later).  Note how I kept the photo small so you can't see quite as much sweaty detail LOL!!

Photo was taken by Amber who finished waaaay ahead of me so had plenty of time to hang out and take a photo afterwards.

This has definitely been a fun, challenging experience, though!!  I'm planning on making a scrapbook layout of my adventures in running – will share them here when they're done (think I'll wait until after the races so I can include stories about them…). 

If you have photos or stories you would like to scrapbook, consider joining my next Stampers and Scrappers club – starting in January – contact me for details! It's a great way to get some "me" time in, plus get some scrapbooking (or cardmaking, depending on which group you choose) done, and budget out your crafting purchases (along with earning hostess benefits easily!).

Happy Hallowe'en!  Hope all the trick-or-treaters have a safe and fun time tonight.

(A technical aside – even scarier, this is a re-write of this entry…I completed one and thought I'd saved and scheduled it…but it's nowhere to be found on the site…)