Climbing Mt. Everest

Back in Elementary school, in third grade, we were made to run our very first mile as human beings.  It didn’t sound hard, but when it came to doing it, I.  Slacked.  Off.  I “ran” that mile in 19 minutes.  I felt like the laziest person alive.  I was eight years old.  What did I know, right?  But something hit me that day, I realized if I was going to slack on something as simple as running the mile, I was going to slack everywhere else.  Now remember, I was eight years old.  That was pretty wise thinking for an eight year old.  So the next day, my P.E. teacher gathered aside those that did terrible on their miles and said we had one more chance to change that time around on our physical’s.  The following day, I ran my mile in NINE minutes!  I felt like I climbed Mt. Everest.  Seriously, crossing that finish line made me look around for my trophy, because I felt like I accomplished the most difficult task known to man-kind.  To me it was climbing that mountain but to someone else it was simply a leap.

In high school, I ran my mile in six minutes and forty-three seconds.  Now I wasn’t as good as some other’s out there that ran it two minutes faster than I did.  But I was proud of my time.  Because for me, it was STILL climbing Mt. Everest.

On the left is my mile yesterday and on the right is today’s.  A few seconds is better than tying.  I think.  I haven’t run in over three years.  I simply gave up on my mountain, but last week I started the climb once again.  It’s embarrassing to time myself now.  For all of you jogging-freaks out there that run your mile in five minutes flat, don’t judge.  This IS an accomplishment for me.

The route that I run…  I start from my driveway, point A, and finish at the stop sign where you see point B.  I walk the rest of the way home for a cool-off and come home to a few exercises.

I wanna know what inspires you to run…  Maybe you have a technique that will help me and others?

Motivation needed + Robustness

I have a new word for today.  A word that makes me feel smart and strong.  I wish I could say I knew and lived by this word many years, but to be honest, I just slid two fingers over my magic mouse to my dictionary and “thesaurusized” (ha ha) the word fitness and one of the more unique words that popped up was ROBUSTNESS.

I do have to admit this word does make me want to work out and become strong and healthy.  Even if it’s the only reason to use this word, I must work out.  One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to work out, along with many other ones that I won’t go into right now because it’s sort of depressing that I haven’t gotten around to them yet!  It’s the middle of March and I’ve only worked out about 15 days since January 1st, 2012.  I definitely need some inspiration and motivation.  So I’ve come up with a list of how to get MOTIVATED and stick to your exercise routine! ;)

1.  PINTEREST ::  A great way to look and get inspired.  Although if you’re anything like me, those pretty pictures of people working out doesn’t exactly do the trick.  I’ve even started a separate board just for that specific thing, HERE.  And all I do is pin.  Not run, or pushups, I don’t even walk the dog as often as I should.  So, like I said, it’s a great way to LOOK and get INSPIRED…  Probably not anything more.

2.  WORD OF THE DAY ::  This one is lame, I know.  But again if you’re even a little bit like me, this could be a kick, just because you need an excuse to use a new cool word. :)  So you can pile those new words like vigor, competence, aptitude, and of course robustness into your brain dictionary and while you’re memorizing those you can crunch those abs, jog, or do countless of pushups (since you’re too busy memorizing new words and not counting) you’ll do many more than you planned on.

3.  YOUTUBE ::  There are so many awesome youtube videos that people post of exercise routines, and they are GREAT!  Here’s just a few awesome ones that I’ve come across, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.  These are not just inspiring, they make you WANT to do these exercises and do them right.  You will seriously find yourself getting off your computer chair and actually trying to see how easy it is (though it looks easy, it’s much harder than you actually think).

4.  HAVING GREAT FRIENDS :: This one is a no-brainer.  Good friends will inspire you and motivate you.  Great friends will drag your lazy butt off of the couch and force you to go jogging with them!  So make friends with people who are serious about their health and fitness.

5.  NIKE TRAINING :: They’ve got an app for it.  These day’s there is certainly NO excuse for not working out, with technology trying to get you off your couch.  Wii, is also a great way to jump into exercising.  This app provided to iPhone users for FREE, has every possible workout routine you want.  Beginners, intermediate, and advance.  They even reward you with bonus workouts.  Definitely on top of my app list.  And every iPhone already comes with a Nike+iPod app you just have to active it in your settings.  So get up and go move!

6.  WORKOUT MUSIC ::  This is a great solution to “keep” working out…  It won’t make you start exercising but it WILL push you too keep jogging, crunching, or whatever it is you’re doing to get fit, and train for a longer period of time.

These are the ones that I could think of from the top of my head to get ME outside today and start the season off with fitness. :)

Pictures to prove my workout (excuse the poor quality they were taken with my phone)