#5 Keep consistent pace on a run

I hate running.

I don’t know why I made this goal.

Running has never been my strong suit and I know it’s good cardio and great for your health (well except for you knees…). I’ve made an effort, but my goodness; I hate running.

Now with that whine session over let me tell you what I’ve learned about myself:

  1. I am not a fast runner
  2. I don’t need to be fast to run
  3. A light run is manageable as long as I have an audiobook
  4. Audiobooks are a great running companion
  5. I like being able to feel healthy and gain knowledge at the same time
  6. As long as I have headphones I can run

What I’ve really learned is I can’t run without having something to distract my mind. Without a distraction I won’t run for very long and I will easily give up. Having something to focus on besides just the run is the key to my success. Well “success”.

Hitting that first point just for good measure. I am not fast. I initially wanted a fast pace for this challenge, after the first few runs I immediately settled for slow. I figured as long as I’m running in some capacity it’s got to be better than nothing.

I consider this a win even if I’m not the best runner in the world.

#6 Dance Everyday for a Month

Originally this was run everyday for a month and then I remembered how much I hate running every day. I could go a solid 15-20 days, but I would just get more and more annoyed with running. I never became one of those people who loved running and got the runner’s high. I just got pissed and would drop running everyday and do it every couple of days a week instead. I’ve tried so many times, but no matter how many times I have tried I just can’t make it a full month.

Which led me to changing it to a different form of cardio that I actually like: Dance! Listen, I don’t need to dance well to dance everyday. I can line dance, salsa, hip hop, flail about like an idiot, etc. Dance as a form of consistent cardio was way better for me because though dance was consistent the type of dance was ever changing and I never got stuck in the state of mind I did when I was running.

It was so freeing to spend an hour everyday to dance. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, I was just doing something to better myself and it allowed me to have fun. Dancing is fun and you don’t have to be good at it to have fun and get a good workout in.

1 Million Dance Studios always inspire me to learn their hip hop choreos and dances. I can always bust out a line dance the moment country music touches my ears. Somewhere deep, deep, deep inside me is a Latina and I swear when I hear salsa or reggaeton I try to call upon my inner Puerto Rican and get those hips going (note: it doesn’t go well, but it is hilarious).

Doing this challenge gave me a hate for running, but a love and passion for dance. I think it worked out much better that way.