"We Will Exercise"

There was some kid's show my brother watched to make fun of (Bananas In Pajamas??), when he was little and the one phrase that has stuck with me is his imitation of "We Will Exercise."

Exercise is something I have always been awful at...even in middle school when I actually played sports. Even though I did it, I never NEVER enjoyed it (okay, in middle school, I didn't hate it) but the sweating and being in pain never seemed worthwhile. Maybe that is where my vision has been skewed.

Over the past ten years or so, it has always been easier to justify not exercising rather than to fight to add it into my schedule. Well, after months/years of putting it off, I found myself with a lighter schedule for three months, since I'm in between classes. Before the last class ended, I started telling myself, "I have no reason now not to exercise....my too busy excuse is gone."

I've always thought I would enjoy running so I went online found an 8 week program that takes you from doing nothing to running 3 miles. Today I start week 6! I am 90% certain that by end of week 8, I will not be able to run 3 miles yet but I am proud at myself for sticking to the schedule and am doing my best. As of this past Saturday, I ran 12 of the 20 minutes, which I think is pretty darn good. My goal is still the 3 mile mark...I have date with a friend to run around Greenlake in Seattle, which is 2.6 miles. So once the 8 week program is over, I'm determine to continue pushing myself to the 3 mile mark. I recently bought official running shoes...the salesman assured me that once I reach the 3 mile mark, I'll start putting miles in and find myself doing 5-10 miles in no time. I blinked...I coughed...I laughed and then told him we'll take things one step at a time.

My overall goal is to keep exercising, even when school starts up again in October, because it will have become a part of my regular schedule. In the words of another cartoon "Can we do it? Yes, we can!"