I spend eight hours (sometimes more) a day working a sedentary job, in front of a computer, not walking more than a few times a day, the ten feet it takes to get to the bathroom. I then leave work after 6:00pm only to find myself ready for dinner and a night of tv on the couch.
At my ripe old age of 22 (23 on Friday!!), I don't find this behavior to be very healthy... especially since I was an athlete for seventeen years and am used to a schedule of workouts. Since graduating from college in May 2008, thus ending my athletic career, I have found that I no longer have motivation to go to the gym. I have also found, that my only motivation was the fact that my coaches and captains required these workouts and that I never really had much motivation to workout at all. I know this because I can count on one hand the number of times I have entered a gym since my last softball game of college - which was 16 months ago, not that I'm counting.
In an attempt to change my mindset about this whole "I hate working out" thing, I decided to run a race that my friends run every year. The race is the Turkey Trot sponsored by the YMCA in Buffalo, NY. It is held every year on Thanksgiving morning - hence the name - and is an 8k race. Though I thought it was a 5k when I agreed to run it :(
Since the race costs money, I know that by paying it I will force myself to show up to the event. However, the hope is that I actually run the entire event. There are some obstacles in the way - namely that the night before Thanksgiving is the biggest drinking night of the year - but I have no doubts (okay maybe a few) that I can complete this. I find the whole running an 8k hungover pretty comical, so I decided to participate in Rochester's version of this race the Sunday before. I have promised myself that I will not drink before this event, and then compare times and see how alcohol hinders my ability to run an 8k. I found a training schedule online that tells me all I need is six weeks to learn to run five miles, so if it works I will share it, and if not I will probably share it as well, but with more hateful words. I plan on recording my thoughts of each workout after I complete each workout. I am a complainer by nature so I warn you the first few might be filled with yelling and screaming and why did I do this to myself type responses, but hopefully by the end I learn to love to run (ha) and will continue to want to run even after the races are complete and the snow season in Rochester is in full force (a girl can dream right).
Lou Holtz said "no one has ever drowned in sweat" - let's just hope he researched this statement before getting my hopes up.
Day-1 of training is TODAY. Expect a post later tonight/tomorrow morning of how it goes!
Happy Reading!
XOXO
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