One of my great friends and gym partner went to New Zealand for a month. I'm so jealous in some respects. But I'm also sad that my buddy that motivates me is gone for the month of December and I have to find some other motivation to get up silly early to go to the gym. I thought I would do this insanity workout that my neighbor gave me...and maybe I still will but before Thanksgiving I saw a challenge from Runner's World to run at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I signed up...Certainly I can do that...it won't be bad... Then a few days later I was reading how good planking is for you so I thought I would do the 30 plank challenge to go with the running challenge. Well now a mere 8 days into it...I can tell you How. Hard. It. Is.
Silly me...on the plank it only started at 20 seconds and then your done. Well when I plank I hold it for a minute anyway so no way am I starting at 20 seconds. I'll start at a minute. Then Lou gave me a great idea, I could put weight on my back to make it harder. All great ideas until you get to day number 6 and add 40 seconds to the time the sheet says. That really sucks, then actually planking for that long sucks more. I'm glad I haven't made the effort to dig the weights out of the basement yet. So far so good. I'm only complaining now so you see how rough it has been for me.
For Thanksgiving we went to Arizona. I'm pretty sure that no one told me how fabulous it is to run there. The elevation is only like 1,250 feet so you can actually breathe and it is flat. Like really flat. Some guys that worked for the hotel took me out on the first day and showed me some routes. I was super happy about that. And it was fun to hear from locals on different vegetation and things to do in town. My times we so good, I couldn't believe it. Day number 2, I head out on my own...of course I made a turn that I didn't know where I would end up so I went longer than I had planned. Which only means that the heat got to me a little but nothing I couldn't handle. Day 3 was good also. It was number 4 when I had to have the first come to Jesus meeting with myself. We drove home that day and after sitting in a car for 12-13 hours the last things I wanted to do was go run. I kept telling myself how it was only a mile, no big deal. So I went...9:30 at night and jumping and every sound because I haven't run at night in forever. Did I mention Brooke had a timer on me and said she was going to come looking for me if the timer went off? Oops. Lesson learned, never let your 10 year old dictate how long you can be gone. Day 5 (an unexpected 8 miles with the club) and 6 were ok...but then came the cold and the snow and more meetings with myself. You have come this far. It is 5 degrees outside and snowing and yes people don't shovel their sidewalks and probably there is ice underneath but you have come this far. And running the in cold isn't that bad. So out I went with 4 layers of shirts and 2 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of gloves. And honestly aside from the ice that hung from my eye lashes and the frozen facial skin, and the snow balls that ended up by my toes I had an amazing run, all alone in the cold.
This running challenge has forced me to do things I usually wouldn't, it has made me accountable, and I'm grateful that I found it. And changing up my routine from the gym can only help me and make me stronger. I have been a bit tired from running every day so the gym has been skipped but I'm positive that I will be ready to go back next week or perhaps even try the insanity workouts in the morning.
I must admit that with work things, with Christmas things, with kids activities and Dance activities finding time to run has been another part of that challenge. Again, it comes down to when you want something bad enough you just figure it out. You don't care about all of the excuses, because believe me, I have had plenty. You just figure out how to get it all done. My kids and Lou think I'm crazy but it's ok...I'm used it.
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