Wednesday, February 25, 2009

going for it

I mentioned recently feeling like I was in an exercise rut, and since then two things have come along that seem like they may help me shake it off.  I'm hesitant to mention them out loud--by which I mean, on this blog that no one reads : ) --but then I remembered that my whole hook is honesty.  So here goes, and if I fail, you'll hear about that too!

1)  The Broad Street Run
This is a 10 mile run down Broad Street in Philadelphia, and it takes place the first weekend of May.  I probably won't be able to run the whole thing--I looked at a 12 week training program and I'm already behind, but I plan to do as much of it as I can running, and be OK with walking the rest.  I did a 4.5 mile run a few years ago, and I'm back up to running 3.5 miles, but this is going to take some work.  In some ways, the work is much more mental than physical.  I run on the treadmill, and my head just keeps telling me to stop.  I try to trick myself into listening to one more song before checking the mileage or taking a sip of water, but I have a tendency to psych myself out.  

The other night G and I were reading in bed before turning off the lights.  I was reading a magazine with a feature on General David Petraus.  It was a surprisingly interesting article and included the tidbit that the good general can do 100 pushups in 60 seconds.

I put down the mag and turned to G.

"Do you think I could do a hundred pushups in a minute?" I asked.

He ignored me.  

I asked again.  This time he laughed.

"What?  Why not?  General Petraus can!"  

Lo and behold, as I was finishing up reading the Dietgirl archives the next day (all done now, whew!) I saw a mention of the hundred pushups challenge, a training program that starts small and builds up to 100 pushups in 6 weeks.  I took the initial test and basically failed--I can do 4--but I'm going to start the routine on Monday.  It may take me more than 6 weeks, and I'll probably never be able to match General Petraus (duh) but I like a challenge!

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