I would walk 500 miles (April Recap)

I managed to eek out 11.56 miles this month... ran, walked and hiked. This challenge has continued to be a hard commitment for me to devote time to.

This past Saturday was the Music City Marathon in Nashville. I thought about all of the training I committed to last year and how I ran the half marathon last year while 12 weeks pregnant. In that single day I accumulated more mileage than I have been able to squeeze out of a single month this year. It is kind of depressing.

Right now exercising and finding time for myself have fallen to the very bottom of my list of priorities. That is the season of my life. I think the important thing is that I am still trying. Will I make it to 500 this year? It is looking doubtful. If I can make exercise a priority again, I am hoping to make it to 250. Only time will tell.

4.38 miles in January >> 6.66 miles in February >> 11.66 in March >> 11.56 in April >> 34.36 ytd

I would walk 500 miles (March Recap)

Third verse... same as the first... Trying to get the mileage in continues to be difficult. At this rate I think I can at least get to 250 miles by the end of the year. Hopefully I will pick up the pace soon.

It is easy to get side tracked though. Some days I would rather just hold my little boy than go running. However, I know that it is my best interest to exercise and it will be good for Jack to see his parents living out a healthy lifestyle.

Hopefully I can make up some of the mileage with biking in the near future.

4.38 miles in January >> 6.66 miles in February >> 11.66 in March >> 22.7 ytd

I would walk 500 miles (February Recap)

I ended the month of January with a measly 4.5 miles. February was a little better at 6.6 miles {all run}. That brings me to 11.1 for the year. I have a mighty long way to go before I hit 500. I am hoping the warm weather continues and I can clock some longer runs. The good news is that I am building on my endurance and am up to 2.2 miles of continuous running.

Coming back from being pregnant, I am pretty happy with my current ability to run 2+ miles at a time.

Some thoughts on jogging with a stroller...

It is a lot more difficult that running without one. The biggest challenge for me is running hills {my least favorite thing}. I have a bad habit of leaning on my stroller. This makes me hunch, which makes my back fatigue more quickly. I have discussed possible stroller modifications with my husband {who happens to be an engineer}. My idea is to add bicycle handle bar extensions. Daniel thought this was a great idea.

This is the kind of handle bar extension on my mountain bike. Image found here.

Strollers are nice in that I have plenty of places to store any extras that I need to carry... keys, iPod, phone, water, etc.

I get a lot of interest from strangers when I am running with a stroller on the local high school cross country course. I have actually had two different men stop me to comment on how impressed they are that I am out with a stroller. I am just glad that I can get out and exercise and that Jack is such a content little guy.

I am not exactly on track to make it to 500 miles, but you never know how the rest of the year will play out. Hopefully I can keep increasing my weekly mileage and make some headway on this lofty goal of mine. 

4.38 miles in January >> 6.66 miles in February

I would walk 500 miles...

Remember that challenge I wrote about last month? The one where I said I would *attempt* to walk/run/hike/paddle/swim 500 miles this year? Yeah, well I am off to a rather slow start.

Miserable January weather. An infant at home. Living in the country with nowhere close by to run. A bad cold. All have conspired against me.

I still am going to work towards this goal, but right now, my YTD mileage is a piddly 4.5 miles. Sad. At least I managed to squeeze in a few Cardio Kickboxing and Zumba classes last month. Hopefully February will see me making better headway towards this goal of mine.

In other news, I am already down to my pre-baby weight. So at least I have that going for me.

As for the other goals... I haven't made any headway on them either. Some days I think I am doing good to take a shower and put real clothes on {especially this past week while Jack and I have been sick}.

My Yearly Challenge

Long ago I gave up making yearly resolutions. They always seemed to be things like "quit biting my fingernails" or "lose weight" and I never managed to achieve whatever it was that I was resolving to do {I still bite my fingernails}.

In recent years I have taken to thinking about a word to be a theme for the coming year and this has proven to work well. It helps me to be more purposeful in how I look at the year.

In addition to this, last year I took the time to make a list of things I would like to accomplish in my life time. This list helped me to really pinpoint my dreams and was great in motivating me to cross things off my list.

Last year I managed to mark six things off my list:

10. Become a mother

45. Run a half marathon

46. Read 52 books in one year (my third year to do this)

58. Design a line of greeting cards
98. Visit an aquarium

100. See a bear in the wild 

and I made headway on another two:

5. Climb/hike to the highest points in all 50 states {added #6 Mt Washington, New Hampshire}

14. Stay married until “death do us part”  (9 years down, the rest of our lives to go)

I have found that challenges do more to motivate me than anything else. Recently I was asked to participate in a challenge to run 500 miles {via Facebook}...

You remember the old song, "I would walk 500 miles..." by the pretenders...

So would you run/walk 500 miles in 2012?

I am challenging myself and anyone who would join me to record 500 miles this calendar year.  

That's 1.3 miles per day
9.6 miles per week
41.7 miles per month

No matter your current physical shape or condition, get out there and burn up the road! Post your miles on the group wall. Encourage others.

Who will be the first to 500?
Who will perserve to the end to join the 500 mile club?

This is the kind of challenge that really gets me excited. I don't know that I will run all of the miles, but I am sure that I can walk, run, bike, canoe or hike a total of 500 miles this year. That is the goal anyway.

In addition, I plan to read 52 books again this year. 

I would also like to make headway on the following things on my life list:

5. Climb/hike to the highest points in all 50 states

14. Stay married until “death do us part” 

19. Bike a century
20. Participate in a triathlon

22. Make Christmas stockings

51. Participate in a Muddy Buddy

53. Get to and maintain a healthy weight

59. Make my own bread {without a bread machine}. *This year I would like to make fresh bread at least once a month.

77. Make a quilt

What are your personal goals or challenges that you are working towards this year?