December Fitness Challenge and My New Hobby

Part 1. December Fitness Challenge
How do you stay motivated to work out during the winter?  It is cold and dark and for the most part miserable outside.  Last year I was preparing to run a 1/2 marathon in April and that kept me on task.  This year I don't have anything like that planned so I decided to set a fitness challenge for myself which is 500 minutes of cardio workout in December.  It is about 30 minutes 4x per week! 

It may sound silly, but it is working.  Right now I have 395 minutes to go!  I also am doing this with a friend who set the same goal so we can reward ourselves in January with getting a Swedish Massage!  Did anyone else set a fitness challenge in December?

Check out my progress: http://juliesjunkdrawer.blogspot.com/p/fitness.html

Part 2. My New Hobby
Yes, yes...it is an unusual hobby, but it is something to keep me busy.  When I was getting married my soon to be Aunt-in-law's gave me a beautiful pink plate that belonged to their mother.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The more I looked into it I found out it was a piece of depression glass.  Pretty cool huh!  Update actual photo:

So I decided I wanted to start keeping my eyes open for other pieces and low and behold I may have struck gold on my first attempt.  I checked out Good Will last night and found a plate very similar in an amber color with the tell-tale "glass-bubbles".  I have to do more research to know for sure.  Update here is a picture:

You can do this by looking up the pattern.  Here is one site I found: http://antiques.about.com/od/depressionglass/ig/Depression-Glass-Patterns/.  Anyways, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and hopefully one of these days I can get around to posting some actual pictures!

Julie

Getting back on the Workout Wagon

Okay, so I admit I haven't been serious about working out since I finished my 1/2 marathon.  Yes - it was in April and now it is September.  I guess now is a better time then ever to get back on the workout wagon.  Last night I hit up the gym and hopped on the treadmill and wow!  I felt like I was dragging a bus behind me, and keep in mind just 6 months ago a 3 mile run was just a warm up.  I made it two miles and then I had to start actual work at the gym (I am a desk manager).  I was exhausted!

I am almost certain one of the worst feelings in the world is feeling out of shape.  It is so difficult to get motivated and even more difficult to actually exercise because when you do you are so out of breath and sore.  I think the most difficult thing for me is motivation.  I have no problem making it to the gym when I have motivation, for example...my wedding.  I had every reason to get to the gym because I knew I wanted to be a beautiful fit bride.  Then I started signing up for races and that was my new motivation. 

This is a terrible time to feel like I am lacking motivation because the number of races, 5K's, 10K's are dwindling and I decided that in the near future I want to stick to shorter races so 1/2 marathons are off the list.  I better figure something out!  It is too bad "being healthy and loving myself" don't get me motivated, because I love myself whether I am pumping iron at the gym or polishing off the last oreo cookie!

What motivates you to stay fit and hit the gym?

Julie

PS.  On another note...stay tuned for pictures from my recent trip to Chicago!