I seem to be usurping Amy's posts, so someone else should post soon

and get me out of top spot so I won't be stuck here all week again. I have now stuck with exercising for a whole week and two days. I took off Friday and Saturday -- Friday I didn't have time and Saturday I didn't have the opportunity. I worked my ability up on the treadmill from one to two miles by Wednesday, but on Thursday I simply couldn't manage the two and a half -- I had to slow it down to a walk. I think I was trying to raise distance AND speed AND level all at once all week, and it was too much. So it's a good thing I took those two days off. On Sunday Daniel came home early enough that I could go out for a run on the road, and it wasn't fast but I did actually keep the "run" going (it was more of a bouncy plod, but it didn't qualify as a walk).

Yesterday I just did a mile on the treadmill -- at a higher speed and about the same level as last week -- and it felt pretty good, and then I did elliptical for the rest of my cardio time. Today I managed four miles on the treadmill. I started slower and at only level 2 (short hills and not that steep) and increased the speed gradually for a while, and then by the fourth mile I still felt like I had some energy left so I pushed it up steeply to a 6 mph pace, then back to 5.4 for the middle half of the mile, then up to 6.5 for the last quarter because I was THAT bored. That's the trouble with treadmills. If I hadn't had Buffy going I never would have finished.

Saturday is the 5k. I'm going to do a short run and then elliptical tomorrow, then a longer run on Thursday, and then take Friday off. My goal this weekend is simply to finish -- fast is WAY out of the question. I think I need to steal Daniel's Galloway book and find a goal and start training for it his way -- even though the treadmill is very dull, running is more fun than elliptical because the goals are a lot more obvious. "Distance" actually means something when you run.

I measured my waist this weekend (significantly up from the last time I measured, I believe) so maybe I can watch that change. My weight isn't changing (159 today), but then my diet isn't great right now. I can't get excited about counting calories.