If I was an Olympian

Sometimes it frustrates me that I have little to no willpower. Something always comes up and I always end up using it as an excuse to not stick it through. I was on a great exercise kick for a while. If I didn't feel like actually working out, I would at least go for a zumba class and trick myself into thinking that dancing would be a fun way to spend an hour.

But after Monday's hip hop class, I just stopped getting up for a run or a gym class. Even yesterday, when I was starting my new running training plan, I let sleep and dinner plans get in the way of getting in my 3 miles.

This morning, as I was snoozing, I thought if I was an Olympian, where would I be? At the lake getting a run in, duh. So despite the late night (midnight is a crazy late night for me now), I jumped out of bed, who am I kidding, it was more of a roll, packed up my gym bag and went for a run at the lake.

On a random note, I also completely forgot to pack a bra in my gym bag, so I'm going to have to sit in my sports bra all day at work.

The view at the start of the run. 

I covered the 3 miles at a 9:50/mile pace, which was a struggle. I would like to blame the heat and humidity. And I guess the no running for a while could have had something to do with it. 

Much brighter by the end of the 3 miles. 

So begins my training for a possible half in October and/or possible half or full in December. Not the best the start, since I did miss the first day, but thanks to the Olympics I got the miles in. 

I did think if I were an Olympic gymnast (Gabby), where would I be? That made me think about stretching, but clearly seeing as I'm not an Olympic gymnast, I skimped on that part. Don't worry I'll maybe stretch later. Maybe . . . if I am watching TV. 

Apparently this is the hardest vault ever in gymnastics. I bet she stretches a lot. 

You guys try it! Think, if you were an Olympian, where would you be? I might go out to lunch with my coworkers and eat like Michael Phelps, but that's just me. 

You know you're a runner . . .

When you talk to your bf about how he should commit and stop being afraid of commitment, you're actually talking about signing up for a race.

Yup. I am actually in the process of convincing him to run a marathon with me.

I convinced him to do this awesome but girly thing with me. And posted embarrassing pics on fb. So convincing him to become a runner, no problem.  Right?

~~~~ Aside: If you are ever in Santa Barbara California, rent the above bike. It's so much fun. And so much easier than a tandem. We couldn't make it out the parking lot in a tandem, so we had to go back and switch to this side by side double bike ~~~~~~

But after I snuck in a GPS watch to his annual Christmas wish list that gets sent out to his family, he received a pair of vibrams and a Garmin 305. So now, he has no choice but to run. And what better way to say thank you to the gift givers than a marathon registration!

Unfortunately, he's never been a runner and he can't really start running until mid January. The race that I'm looking at is at the end of April. I think/hope that he'll be ready to at least walk/crawl 26.2 miles by then.

I am now in the process of convincing him to commit and fork over those dollars. What can I say, misery loves company. And training for a marathon in frigid upstate NY weather would be a lot better with company.

Yup, I'm a great gf. Oh and cute finish line photos would be awesome. That is, if he can make it to the end and doesn't have to resort to riding in the sad wagon to the finish line, because he couldn't meet the time cut off.

Actually I'm very worried that once he starts to run, he'll get so much faster and leave me behind in the dust. Does that make me too self obsessed? Probably. But I like knowing I can run farther and faster than he can. At least for now.

Face of a man who will hopefully be a marathon finisher. 

So wish me luck! I will hopefully tell you about my first ever marathon registration soon! Do you ever try to convince others to join in his running madness? How do you do it?