Today marked my fourth day of getting back on track to a healthier lifestyle (I took yesterday off).  I ran/walked 3.2 miles today (I probably ran about 1.5 total - not straight; and walked another 1.7 miles).  I've been using the website www.gmap-pedometer.com to track the distances I've been running/walking in the neighborhood, which has been helpful in tracking my progress.  As of now, I haven't been using a watch to keep track of the amount of time it takes me to do these loops, instead I'm focusing on just getting out there and doing them.  I figure if I can stick with this for another month (WHICH I CAN!), I can buy myself a running watch and start to see what kind of pace I'm running.

I decided yesterday to sign up for that 5k race at the end of October that I am aiming to run.  My original mentality was that I would just sign up right before the race... this way I knew that I had been doing a good job with my running and could handle a race.  I decided yesterday, with some urging from a friend, that I would just sign up right away - as a leap of faith - a vote of confidence in myself that I WILL keep up my training and be prepared to run this race.  It felt good to do - and also felt good to know that the money that I paid to register for a race goes to a good cause.  

I haven't told my family or my boyfriend that I've been doing this yet.  For once I wanted to try and do this for myself - and not listen to someone else's advice or feel like it's expected of me.  I wanted to see if I could motivate myself enough to actually accomplish an athletic feat.  So far, so good! I did talk to two friends  about it; they were the ones who convinced me I could do it in the first place!  They also suggested we do a bike race together sometime in the spring.  If all goes well with this run, the next way I will test my body will be with biking; see how far I can push myself in an effort to live a healthier life and FIT INTO THAT PURPLE DRESS!

I'm gonna keep trucking along... and I'm going to take it easy on myself.  Anything I do is an accomplishment, no matter how slow; no matter how far.  It's all more than I did last week - so for that, I have something to be proud of.  I will break out of my 'unathletic state of mind!'