My first 5k

Ok, it's not really my first 5k, but its the first one that I'm actually *running* and training for. Last year I attended the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 5k at the Mall of America, and while I'm glad that I did it, I more glad that I didn't run it. What a clusterfuck! Now, this year, I am running the Lifetime Torchlight 5k on July 20th taking place during the Minneapolis Aquatennial...yep...another clusterfuck! But I am hoping that the energy of running with thousands of others will carry me through the chaos. And it takes place in beautiful downtown Minneapolis. And there's an exclusive post race party! Yes, I said exclusive...you can't come...unless you run...so you should come run with me...because I don't want to party alone.
I've just started to take up running. I used to HATE running with a passion. Boring, monotonous, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other torture, staring at a digital display watching your time and distance only making you feel like you should be so much further.
My workouts usually consisted primarily of strength training. My heart rate would get up in the 160s which enabled some weight loss, and then I realized with the wonderful German genes and predisposition of obesity bestowed upon me (love you mom), if I didn't start doing some more cardio I would end up looking too gnarly and bulky. So now I run 4-5 days a week and alternate between a steady 3.5 to 4 miles, or specific treadmill routines. One routine I really like I learned from a coworker of mine:

Warm up 5 min.
Run 4 min.
Jog 4 min.
Run 3 min.
Jog 3 min.
Run 2 min.
Jog 2 min.
Run 1 min.
Jog 1 min.
Sprint 30 sec.
Jog 1 min.
Sprint 30 sec.
Jog 1 min.
Sprint 30 sec.
Jog 1 min.
Sprint 30 sec.
Jog 1 min.
Cool down 4 min.
TOTAL: 35 MINUTES THAT FLY BY!!

After this routine I'll do 20 minutes on the stairmaster (the actual steps on a conveyor belt type). By this time sweat is dripping off my face-mission accomplished.

Running not only serves as my cardio workout but it also serves as a huge stress reliever. No joke. Exercising, moreso running, is my daily antidepressant and it works!! If I don't exercise I am feeling low later that afternoon. Our culture and society have perpetuated the problem of unhealthy lifestyles and it's gotten to the point where it's dangerous. We tend to forget our ancestry and the means in which they lived. Hunting and/or harvesting was a daily activity. Having a home meant gathering the needed supplies and building it yourself. It was the epitome of 'survival of the fittest'. Fast forward to today and you have lifespans extending 3 or 4 times longer than our ancestors due advancements in science, technology and medicine, but evolution can't keep up.
It probably doesn't help (or does it???) that I work in the medical field and see a lot of people, even in their 20s and 30s with severe back pain resulting from disc hernations, spine diseases, degeneration, stenosis and other ailments that result from simply being weak. We sit too much, we eat too much, we drink too much, we weigh too much, if we're not smokers we're breathing it secondhand anyways, we feel entitled to conveniences, and then we wonder why our backs and knees give out so early. Something that I have never forgotten from one of my trainers is that building muscle builds bone. As we get older (which is every day!) we lose bone mass, so we have to combat that. So if there's anything you can take away from this post, take that and bring it with you, every day.
And that's all just physiological. The mental benefits from exercising are astounding! For me, looking good is a secondary benefit. Exercising makes me FEEL better. It teaches discipline. It enables you to acheive and exceed every day. I don't mean to sound like a motivational speaker, I frankly find them a little cheesy, but when it comes to being active, we all need all the motivation we can get in this lazy society.
So there you are my little grasshoppers. Go!