In a previous post, my friend asked me if I’d like to run a 5K Fun Run with him.  Incidentally, this experience is unfolding in near real time.  Since he reads this blog, I quickly reassured him his new alias (“Hasty”) was in fact meant to be a compliment.  What runner wouldn’t be proud to have that nickname.

My glory days!

His proposal rattled around in my head the rest of the day.  I hoped to disqualify it on any grounds, but I couldn’t.  Perhaps the biggest carrot dangling in front of my nose had to do with my previous cross country racing experience back in the day.  Wouldn’t it be immensely gratifying to relive those glory days one more time?  My age (I graduated 4 decades ago) and my weight  (+70 pounds since my college running days) were obviously huge concerns.

I disclosed my delemma to my wife and son hoping they could inject a measure of reason to my aching brain.  Both of them initially voiced concern about my knees but I assured them they were a non-issue (at the moment).

Patty reminded me, “You keep talking about wanting to lose some weight.  Maybe this is how you get there.”

Further encouragement came from my son, “Google ‘couch to 5k’.  You can be ready in 8 or 9 weeks.”

I shared this information with Hasty the next time I saw him.

“That’s great news. If your wife’s on board, then it’s a done deal!” he said.

Be sure to check in every 2-3 days for progress reports on my Couch to 5k experience!