Progress Fridays: My Experience with Getting Back Into the World of Running

 In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I moved to Raleigh, NC at the end of last May/early June of 2015. I moved o Raleigh to go back to school at the Art Institutes of Raleigh-Durham to further my BFA in graphic design with an Associates in web design. When I moved to Raleigh, I began slacking off on my running and workout routine, mainly because I was focusing on school and the projects I needed to complete. I tried several times to get back into it all, but it just never stuck. In the past 2 months I have been able to find a little extra time to try to get myself back into the swing of things. So, with this being said, Progress Fridays will be about my running progress, problems I may encounter during a run, inspiration, etc.

First of all, It is a good rule of thumb to write down your runs. I usually write down the time it takes, my mileage, my weight, how many times I stop to walk or cool down and how long that takes, etc. This helps me to track the progress I make, as well as, notice if I start to skip out on my routine. Here are a list of runs that I have done since I am in Raleigh (at first they were really spread out, but I am trying to get better about it):

My Runs:

**Keep in mind that I only time my actual run time. I do not count the stop/rest/walk time in between.

March 9, 2015:
ran: 2.03 miles
time: 17 minutes, 13 seconds
weight: 182 lbs
stops/rests: rested at 1 mile for about 2-3 minutes

March 12, 2015:
ran: 2.40 miles
time: 20 minutes, 34 seconds
weight: 181 lbs
stops/rests: rested at 1 mile for about 2-3 minutes

March 18, 2015:
ran: 2 miles
time: 16 minutes, 14 seconds
weight: 182.4 lbs
stops/rests: none

** Oopsie...I began to start slacking!

April 9, 2015:
ran: 2 miles
time: 17 minutes, 0 seconds
weight: 181.4 lbs
stops/rests: rested at 1 mile for about 3-4 minutes

May 8, 2015:
ran: 3 miles
time: 26 minutes, 7 seconds
weight: 181 lbs
stops/rests: stopped twice for about 1-2 minutes each time

May 12, 2015:
ran: 2.71 miles
time: 21 minutes, 7 seconds
weight: 183 lbs
stops/rests: stopped several times (more than 3 times) under shade because it started getting hot.

July 15, 2015:
ran: 2.70 miles
time: 22 minutes, 19 seconds
weight: 184 lbs
stops/rests: stopped 3 times for about 30-45 seconds
cool down walk: 1.08 miles
cool down walk time: 21 minutes, 14 seconds

July 20, 2015:
ran: 2 miles
time: 16 minutes, 13 seconds
weight: 181 lbs
stops/rests: stopped 3 times for about 30-45 seconds
cool down walk: 2 miles
cool down walk time: 30 minutes, 21 seconds

July 23, 2015:
ran: 2.50 miles
time: 20 minutes, 57
weight: 181.6 lbs
stops/rests: stopped stopped once at 1.50 miles for about a minute
cool down walk: 3 miles
cool down walk time: 45 minutes, 22 seconds

July 29, 2015:
ran: 1.50 miles
time: 14 minutes, 24 seconds
weight: 182 lbs
stops/rests: none during the run
cool down walk: 3.40 miles
cool down walk time: 58 minutes, 05 seconds

August 3, 2015:
ran: 4.51 miles
time: 37 minutes, 21 seconds
weight: 181.6 lbs
stops/rests: ran the first 1.5 miles with no stops. After 1.5 miles, I stopped ever .5 miles for a 30-45 second walk.
cool down walk: 2.29 miles
cool down walk time: 39 minutes, 35 seconds

August 4, 2015:
ran: 1 mile
time: 8 minutes, 41 seconds
weight: 181 lbs
stops/rests: no stops during the run
cool down walk: 5.80 miles
cool down walk time: 1hour, 29 minutes, 28 seconds

August 5, 2015:
ran: 1.50 miles
time: 12 minutes, 43 seconds
weight: 179.6 lbs
stops/rests: no stops during the run
cool down walk: 1.77 miles
cool down walk time: 29 minutes, 37 seconds

August 6, 2015:
ran: 2 miles
time: 17 minutes, 29 seconds
weight: 180 lbs
stops/rests: stopped for 1 minute at 1 mile and at 1.5 miles
cool down walk: 1.80 miles
cool down walk time: 30 minutes, 29 seconds


** This is my progress as of today. Hopefully I will keep sticking with it.

Running is tough, especially on your body. Here are several inspirational videos to hopefully keep you motivated!


The first video is titled "RUN - Inspirational Running Video" from Howard Freeman's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from him!

The second video is titled "Rise and Shine - Athlete and Running Ultimate Motivation" from Even Ødegård's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from him!

The third video is titled "Running in the Rain - Motivational Video" from Your World Within's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from them!

** And for extra motivation, I find that laughter always helps. I thought I would share a few running/attempts at working out fails videos. The next few videos are purely for laughter and pleasure, please do not try any of this at home! :P



The first video is titled "Parkour & Free Running Fails Compilation - Part 1" from MegaCompilations's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from him!

The second video is titled "Pepper Calendar - Running Fails" from  PepperCommunications's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from him!

The third video is titled "Treadmill FAILS: The Ultimate Compilation" from Compilariz TV's youtube page. Click here to view other videos from him!

Tune in next Friday to catch up on my progress with running and ways to inspire yourself to stick with it on Progress Fridays!

Also, check in tomorrow to see my first post on Supplement Saturdays!