Jogging

I have had a few friends who have been asking me over the years to enter races with them and my answer was always, heck no! I am not a runner and never plan to be one.
I do, however want to loose the weight that I have gained over these past few years and get back to how I looked at the start of my teaching career.... when I went on a March vacation and was able to wear a two piece swimsuit! So, I downloaded Couch to 5K on my beautiful IPhone and have just finished week 7 of 9. At first you start off alternating 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking and you work your way up to 30 min of straight jogging.
Two of my friends are also jogging with me, which is the key to success because some days I would not have jogged as far if they were not jogging with me. We started going Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and then someone had the idea to start running in the mornings and we tried it once and never looked back. Running (well I would call what I do jogging) in the morning seems to be easier because I have nothing in my stomach. We run at 6am so we have time to shower and get ready for work. The days I exercise I feel sooooo great, especially in the mornings at school. I feel I have so much more energy and I am in a great mood. By the time I get home from school my body wants me to exercise again, but I usually don't.
The funny thing is that we have become "those people".
"Those people" that exercise in the morning- never thought I would EVER!
"Those people" who when a car is coming jog on the spot while the car goes by before jogging across the road- this one I find even crazier! (when it happened the first time my friend and I turned to each other and we laughed because we were thinking the same thing- What have we become!)
After week 2 the three of us wanted to find an organized run to we can celebrate our success and have something to work towards- and tomorrow is the BIG DAY. Our first 5K run!
Am I worried- HECK YES!
I am not worried that I am not prepared for it- although we think we are jogging about 4K now, I think the last 1K will be hard but doable, I am worried because my right leg has been giving me problems on and off, and this morning I was hurting the whole run. I almost stopped a few times this morning because I was in so much pain but I really want to be able to push through the pain tomorrow morning so I kept going.
After tomorrow I plan on finishing the last two weeks of the couch to 5K program but I am not sure I will be a jogger much longer after that because of my leg. I do plan on keeping up with exercising at least 3 times a week though.
I don't have a weight goal that I want to get down to, my goal is really size and how I feel. I want to be able to wear a two piece next summer and feel proud of myself and just feel good- hopefully that will happen by march, but I don't have plans for a march break getaway.. yet.
I do notice that I am loosing from the sides of my waist which feels amazing!!!
During school I am teaching the students about healthy eating and exercise and it feels good to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. (or in my case, jog the jog)
I love being honest and real to the students, and there is one student who asks me all the time about how long I ran in the morning and what I ate and such, I love it because sometimes it is hard to get through to students but if there is a hook or something that interests them, that goes a long way in the classroom.