Get Moving!

So that's what I did - I put on my shoes and I moved. I worked up to running for two minutes at a time; it was tough; I'm not going to tell you that I took to running like a duck to water. It took hard work, perseverance, motivation, dedication and me, believing in myself and believing that I could do it.

Making running desirable also helped - I bought an MP3 player and put all my favorite songs on it, this made it easier for me to get into the groove! It was great to get out of the house for half an hour and just listen to music and think (while trying to run!) I loved it.

At the time my children were small, aged 2 and 3, so I found getting out of the house difficult and easy; easy to leave and have time to myself; difficult to get out period, as my husband worked shifts. I had to get creative about timing my runs which meant getting up at 6am to run if I had to. Now previously I would of used excuses like - I don't' have time; there is no one to look after the kids; kids kept me up - I'm tired; its dark raining ... the list of excuses does go on! I envied people who had the motivated to get up and go, just do it, no procrastinating, no excuses. Up until this time I was the queen of procrastination!

The key for me was setting small achievable goals - having a go to see what I could do; then based on that information I would set goals for myself. Like I previous said - when I started running I couldn't run for 2 minuets and in previous exercise plans I would of given up on the first day because I would of been demotivated by not being able to run around the block on the first day. This time round I decided to be kind to myself, give myself the encouragement that I needed. When I reached my two minuet goal I rewarded myself with new running pants and then set a new goal.

By setting achievable goals I was able to reach gave me the encouragement and motivation I needed to move on and set new goals. In the back of my mind I was thinking about loosing weight which came off naturally with getting my fitness levels up. But it was never my main focus; as it had been in the past and I had failed miserably every time I tried to loose weight. I concentrated on feeling great, getting fit and strong. I was also encouraged my the thought of being able to run around with my kids; it made me feel great when they would ask where I was going and I would say 'out for a run'. I also felt good about showing them how we can live life fit and healthy.