(Before I get to the exercise stuff, I would like to mention that I am watching the playoffs, and I’m deeply disgusted that the Cardinals—one of only two National League teams that I like/root for/care about—are about to get swept. By the friggin’ Dodgers. Feh. I guess my visions of a thrilling Yankees-Cardinals World Series aren’t going to be realized.)

Last night was a typical Friday night for me, after a bad workday to end a bad work week: I got home, vegetated in front of the TV for a while (the Yankees were on, after all), and suddenly it was 8:30 and I hadn’t eaten dinner or even moved much from the couch. On the rare Friday nights when I have been able to get myself to exercise, I’ve done so almost immediately after getting home; that’s the only way it works. Instead, last night I ended up eating dinner around 9:30, “napping” from 11:00 till 1:30, staying up till 4:00, and waking up way too early, feeling as if I hadn’t slept at all. This was not the greatest setup for getting Day 3 in today, but I managed to talk myself into it, and I’m (of course) really glad that I did. It was a slightly odd workout: the jogging intervals seemed to come up a lot faster, because the walking intervals seemed shorter than on previous days, but on the other hand, the jogging was easier, and I really felt like I could have sped up. (I didn’t, but I might try increasing the speed just fractionally when I get into week 2.)

I continue to feel great after the workout, too. It’s a little surprising that I feel so good right now, because after I worked out, I shampooed the carpet, which always wipes me out. (And puts the exercise I’m doing now in a little bit of perspective—pushing that heavy carpet shampooer around is way harder than doing a little bit of jogging on the treadmill.) But I do feel great. My knees—excuse me while I knock on every piece of wood I can find—haven’t hurt at all, and though I’ve had a little bit of foot/ankle pain while jogging (I have super weak ankles; if anyone knows good ankle-strengthening exercises, please share them), it doesn’t stick around after I’m done. So, so far so good. And happily, I think I’m ready to move on to the 90-second jogging intervals that week 2 will bring.

I was thinking about my lack of a major goal for doing this, and it occurred to me for the first time that the program results in being able to run 5 kilometers, regardless of whether or not you enter a 5K race. Seems to me that that’s a pretty great goal in itself, really. I don’t know that I’ll get there, and I’m sure I won’t get there in the 9 weeks that the program allows for; I didn’t get there the first time I tried the program. But I’d like to at least aim for it now.