The Next Step

In case you were wondering I am still out here. After the Pumpkin Run I got busy and procrastinated some runs, but I really missed them. I have been working on my next plan for Progress. I completed the goal of finishing a 5k in under 40 minutes. Now I want to finish another one with more running than walking and continue the weight loss.
I also had my follow up doctor's appointment that week.
Great news - I am healthy! After 7 weeks since the previous appointment my iron is back into the appropriate range, my cholesterol is 154 (scale is 100-199), just about everything on the blood test was mid-range like that, and I lost 9 more pounds.
The doctor's words were "amazing improvements". My words were "I'm going to keep doing what I have been doing!". I credit lots of exercise and generally less food.
I bought Jeff Galloway's books on running from Overstock. I got the Book on Running, the 5k/10k, and the Half Marathon books. Probably overkill, but the "O" had a good price on them. Galloway promotes long and slow training with plenty of walk breaks, even during the races to help people run further faster. I am trying to incorporate that idea into my plan, but it is hard. Almost as hard as beginning to run, but funny too... "I can't go that slow on purpose" is what I hear myself saying sometimes. I have been walking a lot during my runs, but mostly because my heart rate is getting high and I want to slow it down. This plan for walk breaks is designed to keep that from happening in the first place while giving the legs a bit of a rest for a few seconds.We will see how it goes. I expect good things.
I am also incorporating some Air Force PT into my world. Back in my military days ('84 to '94) the Air Force never had PT so I don't know what is happening out there, but they have a pretty good program put together. Maybe it is just for the Fat Club, so it fits me fine. Anyway, the plan is a 3 mile run broken up into 1/4 mile parts. Between each 1/4 mile run you do 30 seconds of jumping jacks, crunches, pushups, or different types of lifting using resistance bands. I did that today... it is a workout that really has potential especially since the 1/4 mile times should start to come down after a while. I am modifying some of the exercises though. It takes too long to get on the floor for crunches and pushups on my knees seem really stupid (what a way to do some damage!) and I can't do them the other way.
One of my goals is to learn about pace, so I have a bunch of podrunner files on my mp3 player that encourage me to run to the beat. Last week the only run I did was at 130 bpm (beats per minute) it took me 50 minutes to do my normal 3 mile run. That beat is kind of slow, but I am trying to learn.
I think I covered it all - I am healthy, motivated to continue, and doing it because I can!