AM Exercising....

Last week's challenge (and the week before) was all about exercise....Q and I set the challenge to be "Go to the gym every morning before work for a week."  This sounded terrible to me because I hate mornings, but at the same time seemed like a great way to jumpstart healthier living and get on track for my goal of running a 5K, 10K, and possibly a half marathon (wishful thinking?).

So Monday morning I drag myself out of bed at 6:40am, throw on some workout clothes, wash my face, brush my teeth, pull my hair up, grab a towel, shower stuff, my blowdryer, a hair brush, work clothes, lunch food, yogurt, a water bottle, and as an afterthought a banana for one the way.  Its after 7 by the time I'm on my way, but I'm impressed with myself that I actually made it up and out the door.  I get to the gym and one of the few people changing into workout clothes, all the other professional men and women are on their way out.  Still, I'm there and on the treadmill by 7:30.  I am running and listening to my Malcolm Gladwell book very pleased with myself for my productivity so early in the AM.  As I'm feeling pleased, productive, and very "adult" for getting up and going to the gym before work, I begin to notice that the Y is filling up with people.  This is usually extremely motivational for me because my competitive spirit always pushes me to work harder when there are other people around.  I kick up the speed on the treadmill and continue to run, look around to see if anyone can see me, then it dawns on me that I am the only person under the age of 60.  I am busting my butt with the retired crowd.  A mile and a half later, borrowed shower shoes, a new friend, and off to work, earlier than I've been in about a month--and I feel great.  Day 1=Success.  I like this whole gym in the AM thing.

The rest of the week....not so successful.  In fact, the whole week-long morning gym routine was an Epic Fail.  I went 1 DAY!!  And I tried again last week, 0 mornings, however I did make it to the gym 3 days each week.  And so far this week...its not looking good.

Dear Readers (or should I say Reader),

I cannot believe the first week is already over.  Last night, I frantically searched for what my first challenge should be, and because of my procrastination, my choices were slightly limited.  So, after a long night of asking friends and family, "What should I do?"  I finally decided that I should join the YMCA and begin my year-long (or should I say 10 month long) workouts today.  That is just what I did.  At.....this morning I made my trek to the Y and spent.....there, where I made friends with the elliptical trainer and asked myself multiple times "Why am I doing this?" intermixed with "I can't believe I'm doing this for a year."  But, I reminded myself of the commitment I made and  kept on trekking!  

I'm quite proud of myself because I really dislike working out.  Well not entirely, I dislike working out just by itself, but I love playing  sports.  Exercising via sports is a million times better than just exercising for exercising sake.  See when I am playing sports my thoughts are "I need to get that ball!" and "I need to stop that person!"  but all I am thinking of when I run is "Why am I doing this?" or "I can stop whenever I want."   I guess I am not always so great at self-discipline.  

Well, that was my challenge for the week and for the future.  

Some History

What is the 2011 challenge?  I can't exactly remember how we came up with this whole concept, but I do know that it was during a particularly long Skype conversation in which Claire and I had the bright idea of doing something new every week.  Well, to be perfectly honest, Claire had the idea and had been implementing it for some time, but together we came up with the idea to do this challenge together and create a blog about it!

So we spent about an hour thinking of all the fun and not so fun things that we could challenge ourselves and each other to do throughout 2011.  The result was quite a long list which we will share with you in the very near future.  Some of these things are brand new and have never been attempted by either of us before and other things are simply challenges that we would like to reconquer.  Hopefully, through this process, we will be able to share with you a little bit about ourselves and more importantly, to encourage you to join us in some new and exciting adventures.

The Challenge

Do something new every week- something that challenges us: spiritually, mentally, and physically.