Holiday Workout... Let's celebrate!

Merry Christmas!

As my brother & I said when we were little, it's Christmas Eve, Eve!  

With the holidays,  people are busy with out of town visitors, shopping, baking, cooking and cleaning up the chaos.  Sometimes, we allow the entire month of December to be an excuse to over indulge or break from our exercise routine.  I want to encourage you to stick with the program!    Our boot camp was cancelled for today & Monday (since our instructor has out of town guests) -- but she emailed us a workout to do on our own.   I looked at the workout and thought it would be difficult for me to watch the clock for intervals & pay attention to the workout!   I had settled into the comfort of my couch when a friend of mine posted she was heading out for a run.  *ding, ding, ding*  Just because I had chosen not to do the boot camp routine - did not mean today was a "free pass".   So I laced up the tennis shoes & grabbed my iPod. 

I can definitely tell boot camp is making me stronger.  I am definitely still slow, but I'm reminded of this quote I found on Pinterest.   "It doesn't matter how slow you are, you are still lapping the people on the couch."  (AMEN!)  My comfort zone tends to put into a brisk walker or an interval girl - but as I've posted before I really want to be a runner.  I decided I would run one mile and then walk one mile back home.  (By the way,  it's 60 degrees here today & I went in shorts!!!).   Did I want to stop short of the mile and switch to intervals or walking?  Yes - but I kept telling myself - push to the next street sign; the next stop sign; around the corner to the next street - before I knew it one mile was DONE!   It was slow - 12 minutes - but faster than the 14 minute mile I did Thanksgiving.  On the walk back home, I enjoyed looking at the neighborhood houses decorated for Christmas & patting myself on the back for a job well done.

So today I celebrate --

• getting off the couch
• pushing myself a little further
• believing I'm stronger than I think I am
• 12 minutes is faster than 14 minutes

Here's hoping for some more mileage on Christmas Eve!