Back in training…

Well, I am officially in training mode…I’ve registered for the Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race scheduled for March 31.

After losing about 35 pounds in 2006 and running quite regularly, I ran in a 5K at Mercer County (N.J.) Park and finished in 27 min., 54 sec. I had two goals going in: 1) don’t die of a heart attack, and 2) if I don’t die, finish in less than 30 minutes…so I was happy I succeeded on both fronts.

However, shortly thereafter, I lost my way and began regaining the weight I had lost. I wound up gaining 20 pounds back within the next year and had stayed right around there ever since…or so I thought. I hadn’t weighed myself in months (and, of course, I’m well overdue for a checkup) and quite recently discovered I was hovering right around where I was before I dropped all the weight in ’06.

So I have been working out more regularly and have started running again in order to get back into shape. When I saw someone tweet about registering for this year’s Phillies 5K, I jumped at the chance since last year’s inaugural event sold out in 24 hours. Well, it’s a good thing I acted quickly the other day because registration for this year’s race is now closed.

This means I’ll be posting updates here as I train for the 5K and work on shedding the pounds. Again, I have two goals: 1) finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes, and 2) lose 40 pounds from where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve already lost about five pounds since I started working out again, but I really need to do a better job of tracking what I’m eating — something I did pretty well back in 2006. I ran 1.6 miles today in about 16 minutes (I stupidly never hit the button on my iPod nano to start the Nike+ workout, so I wasn’t able to track the run).

I did complete a 3.2-mile run in 34 min., 18 sec. the other day, though. While it was good to get in a 5K-distance run, it was disappointing to see how far the drop-off has been in my performance. But I’m also seeing it as a great challenge.

When I lost 35 pounds in 2006, I actually wound up five pounds short of my goal back then. I will not let that happen again.