I Ran Today

Saturday was the final day of the 60 day challenge. I can't say that I finished in top form but I finished. I have never been so glad to be done with a required set of workouts. The final month was draining and just felt impossible. BUT, I did it and I did every day.
If I may, I'll share what I learned.
1. It is possible to fit it in. It really is. It requires planning, patience and the support of your spouse. It means that sometimes your kid is eating velveeta shells and cheese dinner and that you absentmindedly melt his bday cupcakes because you start the oven while you're working out and you melt the cupcakes you frosted for his baseball team. It means that your house is messy, the laundry gets backlogged, and the floors really need to be cleaned. But in the end, you can fit it in. This is the busiest time of the year for me and because I made this a priority, I was able to do it.
2. Support from people is immeasurable. I made it because both students and adults were asking me about it. They thought it was fun to hear about and I enjoyed talking about it. I enjoyed hearing about their journey and being both inspired and inspiring. Most people are busy and need extra pushes to get in shape and do what's good for our body. Helping each other out is key-we should always do this.
3. Making your goal public is a great motivator. Do it...if you fail, then you fail-people will get it. But often times, the public nature of the goal kept me going when nothing else would have.
4. Weight is tricky. I lost very few pounds. Maybe 5-6 total which was a huge disappointment to me. The scale didn't move far. I did lose inches. I lost an inch and a half around my waist and some inches off other parts of the body. While that's great and I do think I look better...there wasn't the dramatic before and after that I was hoping for. I don't fault the workout...I fault my desire to eat and drink whatever I want. I didn't eat terribly but definitely not like someone on a diet. It's so true that they really do go hand in hand. You have to be willing to do both to lose weight and I didn't quite pull that together. Because of the scale, I felt a bit disheartened at the end. It didn't help my motivation and I was frustrated. I need to let go of the scale, it's just so hard. Intellectually, I know where I should focus but if the scale doesn't go down, I feel like a failure.
5. I'm a runner. Before I trained for the marathon...I'm not sure if I could have said this and felt like I truly meant it...but it's true. I love running. I missed the space that it clears in my head. I missed being outside amidst other runners.
6. I need variety. If I saw that gentleman tell me to "focus" one more time in the workout...I was going to snap. I want to run, bike, go for hikes, walk AND do the Insanity workouts. I look forward to doing one on Wednesday with my friend, not because I have to but because I know that they're good strength resistance and they're a great workout.
7. An hour a day to workout isn't the best for my schedule. It's also hard mentally for me. 45 minutes always felt doable and I enjoyed it. When it got to the hour range, I dreaded it and felt overwhelmed. I don't know why that extra 15 minutes mattered, but it really did.
8. Push-ups are still hard. They really are.
9. Having a set schedule is key for me. So is a check box. I am going to make my own summer schedule of workouts that says what I should do each day and I'm drawing in the check boxes to make sure that I check each box. It's that whole planning thing that if you don't plan for it...you won't do it.
10. I am thankful that my body can do what it did. I am really thankful.
So...now what? I'm not sure. I'm going to continue working out...not sure if a blog is really necessary since I barf so much on fb. :)
Thank you for reading and offering words of encouragement. Those kept me going and I really did appreciate it.