Portland Fit Week 3

Week 3....All I can say this week is that 5 miles is a lot farther than 3 miles. Our run was good this week. We both now have MP3 players so that we can listen to music. After much discussion Bill has finally agreed that he does not have to run the entire way with me, which is a very good thing for both of us...
Our treat after the run was finding a new coffee shop. We stumbled upon one in the Pearl District: Barista. It was an interesting place and they were purists. No white chocolate, no french vanilla or even hazelnut and not whip cream. It made it very difficult to do a taste test because a dark chocolate vanilla mocha without whip doesn't taste a thing like a white chocolate mocha with french vanilla and whip. I survived. Bill survived too, but it's not to difficult to get a latte' he just had to do without his sugar free vanilla and deal with real vanilla.

Unfortunately today it's 86 and we are scheduled to run 30 minutes. I suspect it's going to be a very very long 30 minutes in this heat, but all we can do is try.

Portland Fit Week 2

Well we have survived the second run with our Portland Fit group.

Last week, Bill did much better than I as he could actually move without moaning and groaning those first couple of days after our three mile run (which was mostly walking). I thought my body was done for. I couldn't climb the stairs at work on Monday because I still hurt so bad. As the week progressed we both felt better. It was a 20 minute run on Monday (followed by yoga) and 25 minute run on Tuesday and then rest on Wednesday and a 20 minute run on Thursday.

Saturday morning was scheduled as a 4 mile run. We accomplished that with a minimum of walking and felt pretty good. One of the Medical Advice Staff gave us some great suggestions for nutrition and stretching right after our run and here it is Monday and we both feel great!

Looking forward to this week to see how it goes.

Portland Fit Week 1

Bill's goal for the year is to run a half marathon by his birthday or at least by the end of the year, and I volunteered to support him by being his workout partner.

I won a free membership to Portland Fit which is a group that trains you to run the Portland Marathon and then my company offered a 50% discount for employee's and their families. How could we resist joining?

The group gets together every Saturday morning for a run starting in NW Portland.

Yesterday was the orientation and the first 3 mile run to determine what group you would be in.

The opening speaker for the orientation session said the only difference between a walker and a runner is that the walker knows when he or she is going to be walking. We heard lots of motivational items that yes we can do this.

Neither of us have run in several years, and I can tell you that running 3 miles when you haven't done that in several years is quite a challenge.

We did complete the first run and there was some walking involved but we have made the first step towards reaching that goal.

Today is the morning after, my legs feel like jelly and I am dreading next Saturday because we will be running 4 miles instead of only 3.