Zombies!

Twice I have started the Couch to 5K program, and twice I've dropped out. The first time I did it the old fashioned way, with my watch as a timer, because that was the best tech I had at the time. The second time, I tried the C25K Free app for my shiny new Android phone. But still I lost interest by week two or three.

Over this past winter I didn't walk or run. I hate the winter and I have that whole "not coordinated enough for land sports" thing working against me when it comes to running on ice and snow. Between the cold and my conviction that I'd somehow fall and break my neck, it was easy enough to make excuses and stick to half-hearted indoor workout sessions on the Wii.

Now spring is starting to peek in, tentatively and a little overdue but enough to banish the snow and ice and with them my excuses. So I've started training outside again. And just like the past two springs, I started thinking about the Couch to 5K program and setting race goals to keep me motivated.

Then I stumbled across a message board post - DisBoards to the rescue again! - about an app I knew I just had to try: Zombies, Run! 5K. It is the same basic idea as C25K - interval training to develop both speed and endurance - but it has a zombie apocalypse storyline that makes the time pass far more quickly and an internet game connected to the app that I can't wait to get further into.

I'm only through the first week so far but I can already say that I like it so much better than any other C25K-type program I've tried in the past. I actually look forward to each 'mission'. It even makes something I used to consider an annoyance - the fact that I often can't get out for a workout until the kids are in bed - into something I look forward to. There's something about running at night, on an unlit track, with only the sounds of your own footfalls and the frogs in the ditches, that fits perfectly with a training program that has zombies moaning through your headphones.

Oh, did I mention that something I love just as much as I love Disney is post-apocalyptic fiction? Or that I'm absolutely enthralled by The Walking Dead at the moment? No? Well, I do, I am, and that's probably why this app is such a perfect tool.

Today was supposed to be an off day for me, but I was feeling okay, not too sore and very well rested since it is the first day of spring break so I didn't have to get up early to haul kids to school. So I went out to do the final workout of week one around 10pm. My 11 year old joined me, which was really cute because she is using the same app but found it too creepy at night. She put on a playlist and followed my lead for the interval timing! Together we only covered a hair over two miles, quite a bit less than the four I logged on my own yesterday, but it was still a good workout.

I can't wait to see what my next mission brings. Week two is when I get to start collecting supplies to use in the online world-building aspect of the game.