The long break between Christmas and New Year’s seriously messed with my training regimen. Except for my thrice weekly Zumba classes, I quit working out, stopped running, and gained fifteen pounds. Going into the break, I thought the time off from work would enable me to exercise more. Instead, I lost all momentum and spent the majority of my time off on the sofa watching television.

After Christmas,the idea of the 5K I’ve signed up to run ten days from today filled me with dread–similar to what I felt a couple of years ago in anticipation of rectal surgery I had to have. I thought about giving up, but had already spent my $23.95 to register for the race. I’m way too cheap to pay for something I don’t use.

Getting back on track with my diet was relatively easy. With all the holiday foodfests behind me and my normal routines back online, I managed to (mostly) stay under the number of points I’m allowed on Weight Watchers. This morning I weighed in, and I’m happy to report that my weight is now back to what it was before my holiday gain. I know I’m not yet out of the woods–in years past, February and March have been my worst months. But as long as I keep doing what I’m supposed to do, I should be okay (fingers crossed).

Returning to my strength training program was a bigger challenge. I started playing my trainer–showing up a few minutes late for my thirty-minute session, doing the exercises he asked me to do as slowly as possible, and taking as long as I could in between sets to “catch my breath.” I couldn’t find time for the workouts I’m supposed to do on my own (wink wink). When I finally went back, thanks to all the newbies who have resolved to exercise more this year, I couldn’t get to the machines I needed. Last week, I finally made it through all my prescribed workouts.

Getting back into my running program was the biggest challenge. After two weeks with no running at all, I started back. The extra weight made a big difference, and not in a good way. For the first time since I started running, I quit before reaching my goal because of the pain in my shins and knees.

I tried to run on the treadmill at the gym, and again quit before I was even halfway to my goal–not because it hurt, but because I could. The only way to be sure I’ll finish my run would be to have someone drop me off about 5K from home. That’s a bit extreme. Instead I take off from the house, run until the Nike app on my iPod tells me I’ve reached the halfway point, and then turn around and run home.

When I crossed the finish line of my first 5k, the Nike app informed me I’d run a total of 7.5K–half again as far as I’d been training for. As you might imagine, this seriously messed with my head. So I got in my car, drove along my running routes, noted landmarks that were two miles from my house, and set a goal to reach the two-mile mark before turning around.

The first time out, I turned around maybe half a mile from the two-mile mark. This week, I reached my goal on Monday and again today. I’m much more confident going into my next race because at 3.1 miles (5K in English), it’s not as far as I’m now used to running.

I’m so proud of myself for not giving up. I just do it. That’s the way we roll, here in…

My Glass House.