(And for that subject line, I probably deserve a flogging.)
I’m debating between one more day of week 4 and starting on day 1 of week 5 of the Couch-to-5K program tonight. I didn’t manage the expected three days of week 4 last week, partly because I’m lazy and partly because week 4 just wasn’t very much fun at all. It alternates three- and five-minute jogging intervals with walking intervals that are half as long, and those five-minute jogs were really hard. I did them, and I didn’t give up even on the night when my breathing was particularly bad, but it was tough enough to make me start questioning whether I’m really cut out for this program. But I’m still not ready to quit completely.
There have been some signs that, as I suspected from the start, I’m just not very well designed for running/jogging: some tightness in my hamstring, some gasp-inducing knee pain that comes on all of a sudden when I’m sitting still—pain that’s more severe than anything my knees have felt in decades. But strangely, and interestingly (er…to me, at least), the desire to be someone who runs has so far been stronger than either my concerns about injury or my lifelong tendency to quit when something doesn’t come easily to me. I’m not sure how long that balance will hold; I’ve been more tired and more depressed than usual lately, which makes it harder to sustain interest in any activity. But I’m trying to appreciate it while it lasts, I guess.