training partners

at two different times this year someone has approached me and suggested I run with them. While my interest in returning to regular running has existed longer than this blog, my self-motivation is severely lacking. I think overall I prefer running alone, but since I haven’t been running much at all, I figured making a commitment to another person would get me out the door. I have a much easier time keeping commitments to others than I do keeping “commitments” to myself, so having someone with whom to run is a good solution to my motivation problem. Except the first person who approached me with this idea, ended up frequently having something pressing that had to be addressed when we were suppose to be running. Eventually, she just told me this wasn’t the time for her to be trying to to establish a regular exercise schedule. The second person started off good for uh, oh, two weeks. Then the crazy summer schedule of a mother of five and their family vacations suspended that running partnership. There is the possibility of resuming running with her in the fall when kids are back in school, but for now, it looks like I need to figure out on my own how to get myself out the door.

Starting over…..

……for the 473rd time. In the past two weeks, I have gone running four times (and before work even). Someday that last sentence will be used to describe a planned break from more regular running.

enjoyment

been running at least a couple times a week for a few weeks now. tonight was my evening to run with my coworker and it actually wasn't freezing out. we were both quite tired from the day's work but went ahead as planned and it turned out to be a good run. I actually enjoyed the entire run and felt good. Previous runs this year have been an exercise in enduring, but tonight was fun. I might be on to something here...

training partner fun

so this coworker who wants to run a half-marathon has a habit of wanting to post pone our runs.
with today's weather heading for 50, I was happy to have our run scheduled for 2pm, but then I get a text message from coworker wanting to run at 6pm instead, because she had a rough night and needed some sleep. She also prefers to run at night "so nobody will see" her. Sigh. I am certainly nothing to look at, but I am way past worrying that people will notice my extra portions jiggling. The way I see it, hey at least I'm exercising. Then later, I got another text message saying she wasn't going to make the run at all today. Fortunately, there was still time to get out and enjoy the sunshine when I got the message. So I did just that and put in a 3.5 mile run on my own. Because it's much easier for me to go running when I've committed to meeting somebody else, I consider today a big success. The run actually felt good too.

February Assessment 2009

weight: 171.4
waist: 41 inches
diet: actual progress being made, less junk/fast food, more healthy food, still addicted to soda
push-ups: 11
running: actually have run a couple miles a couple times a week for the past three weeks (weird)

stacking the odds

with my goal of being at a healthy weight and physically fit by the middle of this year, I have now got myself a number of venues from which to draw and hopefully sustain motivation. As I've mentioned before, my bike is set up indoors and easily used while watching tv. I have joined in a biggest loser type competition at work with a dozen or so coworkers. Just in case simply knowing a weekly weigh-in will happen is not motivation enough, a dollar must be paid into the pot for each pound, if any, that is gained. I've also been recruited by a coworker to help her prepare to run a marathon this fall. Currently we've committed to running together each Wednesday and Saturday and doing at least one more day each week of aerobic exercise on our own. And I've also invested in a wii fit. For whatever reason, having a rendition of myself giving me a thumbs up sign from the television screen every morning motivates me to come back each day. I enjoy the various games and exercises and I definitely feel my muscles working.
Perhaps the stars are aligned in my favor.

buy an elliptical

went out on a run this evening with a coworker for about half an hour. We ran on some well-lit city streets as the sun was well past set. The temperature was 14 F, and the wind chill feel was 2 F. Snow had started falling soon after we started. As we jogged past a woman who had apparently just arrived home and was getting some items out of her car, she looked at us in disbelief and told us we should buy an elliptical. That itself was worth the effort of putting on multiple clothing layers :)

January 2009 Assessment

um, yeah this was suppose to happen on the 3rd, but I was unexpectedly out of town for New Year's and the following weekend. Since then, I've been ignoring the scale out of fear. I'm not totally neglecting myself however, as I have acquired a wii fit and am keeping track of my weight according to the wii. But I'm gonna stick to the bathroom scale measurement for "official" monthly assessments, assuming I get back to doing that oh, say, next month.