Motivation!

So, if you know me, you know that I love monkeys/apes. Don't ask my why, I just do. My favorite part of the zoo is the ape/monkey house, following closely by the big cat exhibit. Chimps are by far my favorite. I could watch them for hours. Anyway, today I get home from the gym to find a package waiting for me from my friend who recently completed her own C25K program. Inside was this little guy, sent to me as a "hooray you finished a 5K" and a birthday present. He's got a few motivational phrases on him and wears a 5K medal around his neck.  He's pretty bad ass.

The phrase that sticks out to me the most: "Just Keep Running"

Since finishing the C25K, I've really slacked off on my running. Right now I'm basically going out for a jog once a week. Before this, I was running 1 mile on the treadmill. I figured the mile run was always the trickiest feat for me, so I need to maintain the ability to run a mile without dying. I want to return to running three times a week. I need to. Monkey Man is going to help me.

I think I'm going to put in him in my car so that he's not out of sight out of mind. Tomorrow at the gym, I'm jogging for 20 minutes at least (or run the loop around my neighborhood). I'll slowly work back up to 30 minutes and hopefully more. I just have to figure out a way to enjoy it a little more than I do currently. I like jogging outside, but it's getting colder and my chest always hurts afterward (from the cold air). I'm thinking about splurging on some kind of tablet so that I can download movies to watch at the gym. Lord knows that they do a crappy job of maintaining program variety on the TVs there.

Anyway... here's to a revamp of my running program. It's coming at a perfect time because I'm pretty sure I've been in a plateau for the last month.

Making Time

I just started a new job at work and it's going well so far. It's definitely a new challenge and I'm looking forward to it. Being challenged is good. It doesn't feel like it's going to burn me out, but this is basically day two. I've decided to remain optimistic.

Anyway, it's almost November, which means that I'm nearing the start of my third year on this health journey I'm on. Three years! Definitely the longest I've ever worked at getting healthier. I'm also the smallest that I've ever been. I've made a lot of progress in the last few years, but the journey is still pretty very slow. This is probably a good thing--gradual change is easier to deal with. I think I'm in a plateau at the moment--or a period of maintenance, which means that to break it I either need to work out harder or eat less. Or, probably a mix of both. I'm still jogging, but not as frequently as I was with the C25K program. I haven't started the 5K+ program either. My biggest concern is the holiday season, which I love. There's lots of food and sitting around bundled up with blankets trying to beat the cold. Last year at this time I actually gained weight. That was partly because I went home for the holidays; this year I'm staying local so there will be less stress. This year my goal is to at least maintain if not lose. It'll be hard (I love pumpkin bread).

I also need to start making time for my writing. National Novel Writing Month starts soon and I really do want to participate this year, but at this rate, I'm not sure that I'd make it to 50,000 words in a month. I bet I could do this if I managed my evenings a little better. I watch too much TV. Way too much... I need to cut it off at 9pm, maybe and write for an hour and a half? It's manageable. Too bad it's almost 10 and I'm half asleep... so, no writing tonight. Hopefully tomorrow.