Intro

Every Friday is Casual Friday at the client's office, which means we on the audit team get to wear jeans as well.  I've been sitting in a chair for 12-14 hours a day due to the crazy hours this particular audit demands, and I guess some of my clothes no longer fit as well as they used to.  I was pulling them over my hips after relieving myself in the ladies' room when I heard a snapping noise -- the zipper had broken, rendering it completely useless.  Fortunately I was wearing a long sweater and a jacket, which covered the gaping hole right about the crotch of my jeans, so I didn't have to go home and change.

But still...it's part of a bigger problem. I don't want to buy new clothes to fit my, er, curvier body.  I also know that if I don't try to squeeze a few workouts per week into my crammed schedule, I'm going to go insane.  I've always been the kind of person who gets depressed or anxious if I don't move my body enough, and being stressed out from work and depressed isn't a good combination.  With that in mind, I've decided to take up running.

I should mention that I normally hate doing cardio.  I'd rather pump iron all day long or take a kickboxing class than spend even five minutes jogging, but the fact is, I only have about 30 minutes in the morning before I go to work, three to four times a week, to get any sort of exercise in.  Just driving to the gym and back to lift weights would severely cut into that precious time.  Instead, I'm going to throw on a jog bra, lace up my running shoes, and head out onto the streets of my neighborhood before the sun comes up.

I'm using this beginner running program from Women's Health because it looks fairly simple to follow.  I also like the fact that it starts super gradual and builds up, instead of trying to jump in too quickly.  My goal is to run a minimum of three times per week, with the idea of building it up to four once I get used to running in the morning (I'm not a morning person at all so it's going to be a bit of an adjustment).  The schedule from the website shows runs four times a week, but instead of following it weekly, I'm just going to go through the workouts in order as I have the time.  It'll take me longer to build up to running 30 minutes without stopping (my overall goal for now), but I'm going to give myself a break on that due to all the hours I'm working and trying to study for the CPA exam.

I mainly wanted to start this blog as a way to keep track of my runs so I can see progress over time if I ever feel down.  But I'm also going through some personal problems right now so I'm hoping this will be a place where I can sort out my feelings and emotions when things come up.