When we think of bettering our health many options come to mind.

Sometimes to many

options come to mind and they becoming overwhelming that we just stop thinking about it and

go about our everyday lives. During this period, I was thinking of different aspects of my health I

could better, but not any that I knew I would be 100% committed to. That was the hard part

being committed to a healthy option knowing that I could stop and no one would tell me

anything. I decided that I wanted to do something that I enjoyed doing in the past and would not

be to difficult to follow. When we start working out, we are more inclined to continue our

workouts throughout the following days and weeks if we enjoy it. If we don’t enjoy a certain

workout or activity, we will not continue to do them and just stop. I found the right healthy

decision for myself.

During these past two years it has been very crazy for me personally. Having to work

through a pandemic has had its challenges, but the most difficult part of it all was not having a

set schedule. Everything for me came to a pause. I wasn’t able to go to the gym, go spend some

time with family eating dinner, or even catching a movie. For us as a family we enjoy going to

nice restaurants and just talking over dinner, but that was not an option anymore. Like all things

we adjusted and we would just order food to go or have it delivered. I didn’t really keep up with

the gym or the exercising and little by little my weight shot up. Eating at restaurants is great, but

if you are not doing anything to maintain your weight it just becomes very unhealthy. I put

myself in this unhealthy situation and now it is time to tackle it head on and make changes that

will make my health overall better not just tomorrow, but for the years to come.

The health project I came up with has two parts. The first part of my project was to lose

about 10 pounds. When I made this original health project, I was very naive and didn’t really

think it through. 10 pounds in one month is doable but it is very difficult to do. The second part
of my health project was to get myself to run a mile without being tired at the end. I know being

tired is normal, but the last time I ran a mile or should I say attempted to run a mile I was very

winded. I mentioned earlier that my health project was going to consist of something that I have

done in the past and enjoyed a lot. That is why I decided to incorporate running into my health

project. When I was in high school I us to run cross country and eventually did it at the college

level when I attended Oxnard College. I have always had a passion for running so for me this

was something I could start doing again and enjoy instead of doing something I didn’t like and

stop. I finally had a decided on a plan now it was time to put that plan to action.

My plan for this four-week cycle was to run 3-4 times a week. The plan for the first week

was to run a quarter mile as fast as I could without stopping. Then on the second week I would

run half a mile without stopping and for the third week I would run three quarters of a mile

without stopping.Lastly, the goal on the last couple of days of the four-week plan was to run a

mile without stopping. I knew this would be difficult, but it was a challenge I was excited to do.

The first day I decided to run a mile at the Channel Islands High School track that way I could

have a baseline on where I stood. Man was that an eye opener for me I had to stop several times

through out the run, but was able to complete it in a time of 13:27. 13:27 man I had never ran a

mile that took so long and felt very discouraged, but I knew if I could just stick to my plan I

could better my time. I was extremely sore after running that mile and took the following day to

recuperate. A day after that I started with running a quarter mile and my times when as followed

Day 1 2:37, Day 2 2:39, and Day 3 2:30. My average for the first week was 2:35.

Now that I had concluded my first week it was time to start the second week, but before I

started the second week of running, I wanted to compare my mile time to the one I had on week

one. This was not part of my original plan, but decided to add it because I felt it would help me
see my progress. I ran my mile for week two and just like the first week I couldn’t complete it

without stopping. The good thing I took out of running this mile was that I was able to better my

time. My mile time for week two was 13:13. I felt very encouraged because that was a 14 second

improvement. The start of week two came and I was able to run my half mile on the first day

with a time of 5:20. The second day of running the half mile was 5:27 and on the third day I ran

the mile at a time of 5:13. The average for the three days on my half mile was 5:20. I felt really

good about the times because when I ran the quarter mile I slowed down on the turns, but when I

did the half mile I slowed down on the turns on the first two days, but on the third day I was able

to push through and not slow down. I took that as a win and celebrated in my own little way.

Week three came and I did the same as the other two weeks and ran the mile. I ran the

mile, but I couldn’t complete it without stopping. My mile time for this week was 13:10. I’m not

going to lie I did feel a little discouraged because I didn’t see more seconds of the clock, but it

was good to know I was being consistent. For Week three I ran three quarters of a mile three

times. My times for those three days go as followed. Day one my time was 8:00, Day two my

time was 7:55, and for day three my time was 8:00. My average for the three days of running the

three quarters of a mile came out to be 7:58. I was winded running this week, but I didn’t feel as

tired like I did when I first started with the quarter mile so that was good for me. Little by little I

have started to feel my legs getting stronger and holding up my weight better.

Week four came and just like the previous three weeks I attempted the mile run. I for sure

thought by this time around I could really get close to running the mile without stopping, but that

was not the case I still needed to slow down on the turn and stop a couple times, but I did it. I ran

the mile and improved my time. My mile time for this week was 12:59, I was finally able to get

it under 13 minutes and I felt really happy. For week four I also had to alter my original plans.
My original plans called for me to start running the mile, but I didn’t feel like I could do it so

instead I continued with the three quarters of a mile, but added an extra day. My times for the

three quarters go as followed Day one 7:45, day two 7:50 and day three was 7:47. The fourth day

was great for me because I was able to run it at 7:37 and didn’t stop at all, I pushed through. My

average for these four days was 7:45 and that beat week threes average. All that was left to do

was run the mile for one last time to complete the month cycle and well my mile time for the last

day of the four-week cycle was 12:18. I felt happy that I was able to better my time even though

I still stopped at certain points of the run, but wow one minute improvement is amazing.

For me the Ihealth app I used on my Iwatch worked extremely well and I would

recommend it to anyone who is wanting to track how long it takes them to run, cycle or even

count their calories. I did not have any issues with the app and it worked extremely well. I have

had my Iwatch for quite sometime, but I had never used the app to track my runs. I felt a little

overwhelmed when I started using the app on my watch to track my activities, but I was able to

feel more comfortable because I watched a video on YouTube. While tracking my run times I

didn’t feel like it took up to much time, because it was easily accessible to me on the app through

my phone. I would definitely recommend this app and I have continued to use this app on my

health plan.

Even though I was not able to run a full mile without stopping I feel very encouraged to

know that I can actually run a mile. I feel happy because I was able to improve my mile time

over a minute with this plan that I came up with. Little by little we make strides and after a while

a lot of littles turn into one big little. I have actually continued to run and have added hiking to

the plan I originally set. I feel happy because I know I have finally made the transition to better

my overall health and take care of my body for years to come. Event though my original plan did
have for me to lose 10 pounds I left that part out because I focused more so on the running then

checking my weight everyday. This journey does not end once this class ends. I am going to

continue doing this in hopes of running the mile without stopping.