Waking Up Is Hard To Do...

So last night, in my big moment, I set my alarm to go off at 5 o'clock this morning.

When 5 o'clock rolled around this morning, I rolled over, said, "I'll do it tonight," turned it off and slept for another hour and a half.

I have great intentions the entire day before...I'm perfectly logical, I plan out my route, plan out my attire...but before I'm even conscious enough to form a complete coherent thought, I completely overrule my workout plan for the day...and now I have to work out at night.

It's frustrating...I want to be disciplined and I want to keep 5:00 a.m. Patten from messing up my plan.

I guess I just have to keep fighting him. The worst part is that I know that as soon as I sit up in bed, getting up will be a lot easier...so why can't I do it?

Goals

It's hard to run when you don't have goals...and I've found it's easier to give up when you make your goals too lofty and harder to achieve...while I have bigger and longer goals with my running...here are my current goals:

• Run a 5K. This one is pretty straightforward...sure, in the future I'll go for longer distances and faster times...but this is kind of the big first step here.
• Get into a habit of waking up at 5 o'clock every weekday morning to do something, whether it be walk, run, do the elliptical, lift weights. Do something. For the whole rest of the day, I won't have to worry about fitting it in...and I won't feel guilty for missing anything.
• Keep track of my workouts. I want a log of exactly what I did and for how long.
• Fit into Extra Large shirts. I've been wearing 2XL shirts for almost 3 years now. In fact, some of my shirts are actually 3XL. In addition to the embarassment of having to wear bigger sizes, there are fewer options for bigger people, they are more expensive...and frankly, some of them are just plain ugly.
• Weigh weekly. Sometimes I'm afraid of that number on the scale, but I can't motivate myself unless I see it.
• Blog regularly. Even if I don't write about how my workout went, I need to write something to keep me going.

Of course, once I complete the ones that are completable...I'll update them.

Reboot

My name is Patten, I'm 28 years old, I weigh 309.2 pounds (as of this morning)...and I want to be a runner.

Since I graduated college in 2003, I've put on approximately 100 pounds through a diet of chicken fingers, Doritos and sheer couch-potatoishness. I've gone from large shirts to extra large shirts to XXL shirts to the point that I even own some 3XL shirts.

I went to a go-kart track this summer and I had to get a seatbelt extension. That moment may have been one of my lowest points. When I flew to Japan a few weeks ago, I couldn't put my tray table down because my gut wouldn't let it go down. I've gotten so fat that it's started to affect the things which I am able to do.

I can't go indoor skydiving because I weigh too much.

I can't ride a horse because I weigh too much.

I can't play hockey because I weigh too much.

Simply put, I'm as fat as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore.

So why running?

I've never been a very athletic person. Most sports that I try, I end up sucking at them because I have more of a penchant to be a fan than an actual athlete. When I ran cross country in middle school, my goal in every meet was merely to beat at least one person (which I did).

This time, however, I go in with a different mindset. I'm not competing against other people, I'm competing against myself, which is why I picked running.

Running is cheap. I know how to run...and running is something where it's fairly easy to mark your progress. I can do it anywhere, I don't need special equipment...and I've had moments before when I've tried to become a runner where I actually have experienced that elusive runner's high. I want that feeling of euphoria again.

As with anyone who begins a running program, I have a lofty goal of someday running a marathon, but I'm going to start with a much smaller goal for now: I want to run a 5k.

I have actually entered into a 5k this coming weekend. Don't worry, I have no pretensions about my skill or how this will go. I will be utilizing the Couch to 5k plan to get to my end goal and merely be including this weekend's race as a baseline to see where I stand.