Born in a culture where books and television are chosen over play, I have procastinatingly (is that a word?) sailed through the 28 years of my existence - by having mediocre fitness expectations for myself. As long as I am not obese, do not have a chronic disease and am not stared upon in public, I have been happy with not moving my muscles more than it is required.
So what made this turn around and made me start this ambitious project called "Couch to 5k" that I stumbled upon the NHS (UK) website? I guess it is the result of the internal and external conflicts I have been having over the past few months. I have lived in 4 different countries over the past 1 year and have found myself to be very drawn to the fitness habits of others. Once in US, I was dog-walking (my host's pug who was as slow as I was) and lost directions to my home. I looked around and saw this runner coming towards me but his eyes were focussed on the street ahead. I stopped him politely, though he seemed to be annoyed by this intervention in his routine, and asked him the direction to my destination. What was interesting in the 1 minute I conversed with him (more than the directions that he was giving) was that he didn't stop to jog at all. The fact that he didn't stand still to talk to me irritated me, however I was amazed by his dedication towards his body and was the first clue of embarrassment for me.
Now I live in Europe, things are even more different. I work, sit and hang out with people who are fitness freaks. Imagine trying to have a couch-related conversation with people whose sentences start with "When I was running....". More than the professional acquaintances, it is my dating life that has taken a hit (not that I had any dating life before). As I said, I am not obese, but I would be true to myself - I do own a small about 250 gm of belly fat that makes me not be termed as "thin". The thought that my potential dates look at that pouch first before looking at my face terrifies me, yet I had to get the strength to get out of that couch and run - run for my body, run for my mind and most importantly run for my future.
I stumbled upon this amazing Couch to 5k running program that helps people like me to get off their asses and start doing something about themselves. I downloaded the podcast, and finally took the courage to run. It was harder than I thought it would. How hard is intermittently running for 60 seconds ? As it turns out, it is quite hard especially when you feel a burning pain on the sides of your abdomen, you curse yourself - why? why are you going through all this? But I will be honest with you. No matter how hard that first step was, I am feeling great right now to sit on the couch :) makes it sound like I earned it ! My face feels radiant and there is something in that run that freshened up my mind and made me write about it. The first week is supposed to be slow with 3 workouts in 7 days. I hope unlike other things that I have tried, I continue to test and try this one..
Signing off...
