So how did I get here? A little background on my exercise journey...

I began eating low carb on 2/3/2014. I did virtually no exercise for the first few months of the diet. I was in bad shape (obviously), I had a bad back, and I had issues with my left leg going numb (or worse) from a pinched sciatic nerve. Over those first few months I still lost weight at a nice clip and I was really starting to notice how much healthier I was feeling. Then at about 3 months into this WOE I started getting fidgety when I sat in one place too long. My body was telling me to get up and move. I had 250+ pounds of energy to burn and this WOE opened the door to that abundant resource. The problem: I still had that bad back and sciatica issues with my left leg. It was painful to be on my feet too long. Plus, I had been very inactive for more than a year. I had lived in my recliner, office chair, and my bed as much as possible. My brain said get up and move, so I did. My body said ouch. I did it anyway. I did what I could.

I joined this TDC Club thread in June 2014. The goal of the participants was to get two hours (or more) of exercise each week. Here was my first post.



I participated in that group for over a year, reporting once a week. It was a great place to start out and it was nice having the accountability. The company was nice, too. As time went on my back issues got better and the walking turned into a daily thing. I increased the amount of exercise that I got in each week. Even my sciatic nerve issue went away. It got better with each passing month, but took about 1 year to go away completely. Eventually I bought a fitness tracker to count my daily steps and on Sept 1, 2015 I joined The Walking Challenge thread in the exercise low intensity sub-forum. The goal is to try to get in 10,000 steps or more each day. My normal daily routine will yield only about 5000 steps. To get 10K or more each day I had to keep up my walks. I walked on my lunch hour and I walked after dinner. I enjoyed walking. It was so rejuvenating. I had no problem getting 10K steps in on most days. Here is a sample from the first week of March 2016.


So that is what I've been doing in preparation for this 10K. I've gotten a little "Forest Gumpy" with my walking. I like doing it and I do it a lot. It takes time and I make time for it. But I've also been thinking about ways to get more workout done in less time. Jogging would do that. I was not sure if jogging was such a good idea at my age. But I decided to give it a try anyway - starting with this 10K race. The race is on April 9 and I started my preparation on March 12 (4 weeks before race day). That is not much time, but all I can do is try. I'll record all my jogging workouts here in this journal and let you all know how it goes. If I can't jog the whole 10K, so be it. But I'm going to try.