Need your help-give me your thoughts!

Okay! So....I am a very goal driven person. I like to know what the goal is, how we're going to get there, and what the reward is when we do. I love to meet goals and have a reward at the end.

I've tried to get back into running and working out in general. But I just cannot for the life of me get motivated. I would like to lose 5 pounds and 10 would be my ultimate goal. BUT, I am very aware that losing the weight won't get me back into my pre pregnancy jeans. My body has changed, I know this. But I want to get back to being healthy and in shape.

I think diets are dumb. I know eating healthy and exercise is where it's at.

The summer after my junior year in college, I stayed on campus to work. My roommates were mostly gone or doing other things and the kickboxing class I went to was over. I knew i needed something to keep me on track to work out. So I took two paper cups-one was for weekly goals and one was for monthly goals. In the weekly cup, I had written little rewards on slips of paper. If I worked out 3 times a week, then at the end of the week i could draw something from the cup. The rewards were small, but something I wanted and wouldn't normally do. Like, buy a new thing of nail polish, rent a movie,etc...

If I worked our every week for a month, then I could draw a reward or treat from the monthly cup. These rewards were a bit bigger, like buy a new shirt, or spend $10 at Target. It worked really well, and I was super motivated and driven to complete my work outs each week so I could get a treat. And I hated the feeling of failing if i didn't complete my work outs. 

So my point.

I've decided to do the same thing for this summer. I'm not focused on weight loss at all, but I want to get back into running consistently, try to get my mileage back up, and my pace back down. I don't have specific goals set for when this has to be done by. I want to focus more on the consistency of working out again.

Here's what I'm thinking:

If I work out/run twice a week, then I get to draw a reward from the Weekly Cup. I know twice a week doesn't sound that challenging, but it is. Especially now with Paige. Because for me to run in the morning, means I have to get up early, pump, then run. I have to get up earlier than I used to because I just can't throw on my running clothes and go out the door. Running twice a week will be a challenge for me right now.

If I run twice a week for 4 weeks straight-then I get to draw a reward from the Monthly Cup. Now if i miss a week because I'm really sick or something, then I'll take that into consideration.

So....THE REWARDS!!

I picked things that are real treats for me, that I rarely do or buy. I don't want the rewards to be too big or expensive, or too small to where I could care less if I get it or not. I'll write each reward on a slip of paper, then draw one out each week.

Here are my thoughts so far for the Weekly Rewards:

Foot Massage ($4)
Hair Wash ($4)
Salad from a Western restaurant ($5)
Snapple Drink from the import store ($2)
Starbucks bottled Frappuccino ($3)
Candle from Ikea ($2)
Magazine on my Nook ($3)

Monthly Rewards:

Buy a season or TV show on Itunes ($15)
A book for my Nook ($10)
New dish or mug at the dish store near our house ($10)

Those are my ideas so far. I didn't want the rewards to be too focused on food, or too expensive. Just little things that I would really enjoy.

I've decided I will do a weekly blog post on Friday's to recap the week and share what rewards I got.

This is where you come in!

Do you have any thoughts or ideas about other rewards?

What should I title the Friday post? 

I've thought about Running Rewards, Friday Findings, Friday Finals, Friday Fortunes, Friday Fix, Weekly Rewards....... what do you think? any other suggestions?

Does anybody want to join and do this with me?

SO EXCITED!

love

laura

Get it Together

I am a person who loves having goals. I thrive on them.

So far I've met all my weight and exercise goals for 2011, so I set new ones to keep me going. But they're a little too vague. And vague goals don't get accomplished in my book.

I took 2 weeks of from running bc of being in the mountains and just being really tired and busy after we got back. I ran 3.2 miles on Thursday and felt pretty good. But today I didn't run because I honestly just didn't feel motivated. I'm currently at the lowest weight of my adult life. And when I see some small improvements in the weight area I tend to slack off. I know I shouldn't, but I do.

I want more.

After reading TPGs post today, I became motivated. I have got to just get out there and do it. I need to run whether I feel like it or not. I need to be disciplined again. Which is hard when I'm not training for anything. They have races in this country, but they're all far away and way expensive to go to.

So I've decided to train for a half marathon, even if I never race it. I'm going to be using this training program that I used for my first one. And who knows, maybe I'll do my own personal half and call it a day. (I'll just need a shirt and a medal to feel legit, ha!).

If all goes well, it will put me right at our 2 year anniversary mark. And I've already decided if I lose 5 more lbs, I'm going to let myself have a Smores Poptart. I know you should never reward weight loss with food, but I just can't bring myself to eat these without knowing i've lost more weight. It's a mental thing.

I'm a little nervous about committing to a training program, because school starts on Monday and i'll be getting up on a normal day around 6:15. And that's without running. So I know i'll have to get up about 5ish a few mornings. And that doesn't sound like fun to me. Hopefully when/if the weather cools down I can run in the afternoons. But that probably won't happen  for a while.

Anyways, wish me luck. I need it. I'll take any motivation I can get!

love

Laura