9. not dead yet.

Things I’ve learned after a successful first week of Couch to 5K:

• My street only looks flat.
• The nice English lady who lives in the C25K app sounds awfully earnest when she tells me to run. I always feel like looking back over my shoulder to see if she’s noticed someone following me.
• Strangers really want to talk to me while I’m running.
• Or maybe they’re checking to see if I can still breathe.
• So far, I can.
• The crossing guards in my neighborhood are pretty cool. They cheer for me as I go by.
• The people in my neighborhood apparently lose sunglasses with alarming frequency.
• The little hooligans who watch deck hockey games in Marmaduke Park need to do a better job of keeping their balls to themselves.
• If I ever have to vomit in someone’s front yard, I’ve already picked out a couple where it probably won’t matter.
• I still love the iPod’s October Mix, but it’s not the best running music ever.
• The Ballgame Tailgate mix might be, though.
• When you announce you’re going to give something like this a try, you instantly get a ton of support from friends. If you have friends like mine, anyway.
• No matter how hard I try, I haven’t yet come up with a reason to stop.