Off days?

After run number one on my Cto5K app, my ankles, shins and calves were sore. It was expected soreness, nothing unusual. My app has me warm up for 5 minutes with a brisk walk, then it has me jog and walk at intervals, followed by a cooldown walk. The idea is to increase jog times and decrease run times. This morning is my day off after my second workout. I have no soreness, which is surprising. I had a few down days after my first workout and I was so sore. The extended downtime wasn't from lack of motivation, but from rain and things going on at home. Anyway, after the first workout, I found myself unhappy that it was just my lower legs suffering. I ran through a program on my stationary bike to make my thighs feel like they'd gotten some love, they're a bigger problem than my calves. Today though, I feel no real soreness.

Am I supposed to be striving for post-workout pain? I feel like I let myself down by not being sore this morning. I struggled with anorexia in my early teens and I find I do tend to push things pretty far. So I'm sitting here pondering what to do with my off days. My abs need love and I adore pilates. I just don't have anywhere to do them. I refuse to plonk down in the living room and start doing the "seal" in front of my husband, because I wouldn't want to see my 200 pound butt rolling around and sweating, I definitely don't need him seeing that. He's on an off rotation from work so, it's not like I can wait until he goes to work to do it. He works overseas on 5 to 6 week stints.

Running is it's own community. It has it's own culture and I don't know anything about it. I have a phone app, a slightly unwilling dog, thighs that rub together and a pair of shoes. Other than that, I'm pretty clueless. I know yesterday I spent so much effort talking myself into not quitting that I literally got lost. I also learned what getting warmed up really means and that's it. I know my body will tell me a lot, but I also know that there's wisdom out there from the people that's learned the hard lessons before me. I'm just embarrassed to even ask someone because if I say "I'm going to run a 5K in a few months," I get the most bizarre looks. I'm 5'2 and I wear somewhere between a 16 and an 18 pants. There's a roadblock when you're chunky, but honestly, you have to start somewhere. I put the weight on, I guess I have to do the time getting the weight off.