The Good and the Bad

This morning I woke up after sleeping in a little (Husband had left for work at like 3:45 am so it was quite easy to fall back asleep for hours) and began to think about all the things to do today....

... finish organizing the house and putting everything somewhere it belongs....

... work on our budget (which doesn't exist but really needs to)....

... clean the house, because it always seems to get dirty again....

And instead, I decided to go to the gym first.  See, last night I wa at a baby shower and got to talking with a super fun friend who, despite being a few years older than I am, has been working out a ton recently and really could kick my rear end.  She's been biking and running miles and miles and miles (I believe the word 25 miles was thrown in there somewhere). 

My trusty running shoes (pose stolen from Brooke's post.)

And I realized that while I love running, I have been doing this "step" thing for a while now...  I count steps (paces, really, each time my left foot goes forward is one step).  I'll do like 200 or 300 steps running and then walk 100 and then run 200 more.  The most steps I've ever done at one time without a walking interval was 500, I think. 

Now, don't get me wrong, intervals are actually really good for me, and I think it helps me build up my endurance.  But in talking to this friend, I realized that I didn't even know if I could run a continuous mile, much less the 3 or 5 she were talking about.

Hence, motivation to go to the gym this morning.  I got on the treadmill (because since I slept in, it was too hot to run outside).  And I walked for a few and then I said, "okay, Beth, let's see how bad off you are."

The good news? 

I went to the gym, and I did cardio for 45 minutes, and strength for about 30.

The bad news?

I could only run one mile continuously (and it was not fast), and then had to walk for a minute, and then pushed myself to eke out another half mile. 

The good news?

I could run a mile continuously.  That's a place to start, right?  In high school I couldn't have even done a quarter mile, so although it's not as good as I could have done a few years ago, it's much better than it could be.

And I'm all about starting somewhere. 

The tricky part will be whether or not I'm motivated to run another continuous mile tomorrow.... because if I don't keep it up, it won't matter. 

Someone please check in with me tomorrow and offer me a little motivation.

(Here's me enjoying a delicious cup of iced Hazelnut coffee from Einstein's -- my absolute favorite!-- as a reward for going to the gym.)