Domain purchase:

It’s official. I decided to go ahead and purchase the domain name “263andcounting”. At only $14 you can’t beat it and it looks all official and stuff. I thought about coming up with some catchy kind of name like others I’ve seen around but I’d rather just keep it honest. I started at 263 and I don’t ever want to be there again. EVER! I have to admit that some of your blog names out there are just about the bees knees. However my bees knees are hella pudgy so for now I remain http://263andcounting.com

8 minutes:

(insert kick ass drumroll)…

Now before you go and assume I’m throwing up some crazy ass gang sign in my picture (I know I look that dangerous and I am wearing red and my home town is pretty much riddled with gangsters) remember I’m a sign language interpreter and holding my phone and using both hands to signify the number 8 isn’t conducive for taking a picture.

My interpreter/deaf friends know what that says but for my ASL impaired readers let me just reiterate: I JUST RAN FOR 8 MINUTES!!

Let that sink in.

And it wasn’t as hard as I had imagined.

Seriously.

No seriously.

Same story as before. I woke up nervous. Sunday’s run was three 5 minute intervals and surprisingly (but maybe not really tooooo surprisingly as I’m noticing a pattern) it was easier to do these 5 minute intervals than previously attempted. There would be no 5 minute run today to lead into the 8 minute interval. It was the warm-up and then off I go for the 8 minutes.

I’m no longer concerned about speed when I run. I took my HRM (heart rate monitor) with me on Sunday and determined that I’m hitting my target rate (144-150) even at my slower pace. I’ll take it!

Slow and steady. The first 5 minutes go by and I hear Robert Ullrey (the podcast man) inform me that if this was my first day to go ahead and walk for 3 minutes. As this was my second day I know that I needed to keep going. The next time I was going to hear that man’s voice he was going to be whispering in my ear that my 8 minutes was over and to walk for 5 minutes.

If there was ever a time I appreciated a man’s voice in my ear it was 3 minutes later…

I was done with my first interval. 3 weeks ago I said it was the first time I’d ever run for 90 seconds. 2 weeks ago I said 3 minutes was the longest I’d ever run. Last week, it was 5 minutes. Today for the first time in my life I ran for 8 minutes.

(insert crying…blah blah blah, walk for 5 minutes)

The second interval was harder than the first but I did it once I would do it again. I’m pretty sure that if an elderly lady was walking next to me she’d pass me like a corvette next to a Studebaker but sooner than later than expected it was 8 minutes and I was done for the day.

Week 5 day 2 = FINISHED!

Thursday will be a full 20 minutes of running without any walking breaks. I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m finding that just as I’m getting into a comfortable form for running it’s time to stop and getting back to that form is harder the second or third time around.

This is starting to get exciting folks! I’m closer to the end than I was the beginning. Everyday I am pleasantly surprised and proud of what my body is accomplishing. I’ve been stretching more and can tell the difference in how my shins are feeling. No pain this time around!

Motivation

I’ve gotten some really great responses to my last post over at 263andcounting. The consensus is that motivation is overrated. Motivation (or lack there of) can keep you from doing what needs to be done. I don’t get motivated to go to work. I just go. I don’t get motivated to pay the bills. I just pay them. I don’t get motivated to take care of the ones I love. I just do it (hello nike ad). Where motivation can fail, determination lingers as long as I want it bad enough.

I do.

Do you?