Pay Yourself Back

Well, well, well.  The drippy one finds herself with a pocket of time so let's wind back the clock back to December 2016 shall we?

The story begins with getting my fitness journey back on track after recovering from surgery (covered in my other posts) and still in training for my very first Disney Princess 5K to be done in Feb 2017.  For giggles and grins, the diva and a small group of friends decided to try something new, run/jog/walk 2017 miles in 2017. This is a program associated with Run The Edge.

My sister-in-sweat, my daughter from another mother, one of my Disney loving friends and the drippy one joined forces and set out to accomplish the goal to cover 2017 miles in 2017.  As a team we hit that number by June 2017 I believe.

Personally, my chubby stumps carried me through 1346 personal miles.  Let me say that again, the #drippydiva and all of her sparkle-like sweat and flapping fat wogged to a personal grand total of 1346 MILES.

This former couch potato who would rather sit and binge watch a TV series actually got of her more than ample buttocks and covered 1346 miles.  It's still unbelievable to me.  If I could have only earned cash for that I would be rich!

So as 2017 was nearing the end new goals for 2018 needed to be set, so why not do it all over again? Princess Marathon, 10K this time (signed up and participating at the end of the month) and lace up my Sauconys and take a stab at doing  2018 miles in 2018.

Sounds a bit daunting but when you break it down it is roughly 5 miles a day for the next 365 days. HAHAHA!  Knowing myself and my body in its current state, I know I will not be able to wog (walk/jog) 2018 miles.  However, besting myself and complete 1500 miles is something much more attainable.

I put a call out to my trusty friends and we formed a team for 2018 - we call ourselves the #DisneyDivas..wonder why?!  We are committed, as a team, to complete 2018 miles.  As of today, this mighty group of 3 ladies have already logged 328 miles, not too shabby.

Back to my title and my thought about making money for exercising.  If you are familiar with the whole rewards concept - you do something (like run mile) you get something ($$).  What? Pay yourself for exercising?  Yup, that is exactly what is happening.  For every mile I am depositing .25/mile into a jar.  As it stands today, I have successful deposited $30.75 into the run jar.

What will I do with the funds? More than likely I will put it towards something Disney related, after all it’s all about MM.  The other possibility would be putting the money towards new sneakers.  Last year I went through 4 pairs.  Never in my 49 years have I ever worn our a pair of sneakers, never mind ware the treads down to flat on 4 pairs? That's it for now, stay sweaty my friends.

Am I Really Running?

The tile of this post is the question my brain fires off when I find myself at the gym on a “dreadmill” doing 3.7 miles/hr or approximately a 16 minute mile. Why does this even enter into the brain of someone working hard to make changes to build healthy habits and improve their body image?

When you are “fluffy” the natural action of comparing yourself to “thin” people just happens.  I see all these individuals effortlessly pacing along at 6-7 miles per hour, and here I am expending every ounce of energy to run an apparently slow 3.7 miles an hour. 

This is when I get a visit from those two little people that live inside my brain named Negative Nellie & Positive Polly.  You know they exist, I am not the only crazy person.  

Nellie says  “You have no right to say you are running. You look foolish, sweating like a pig on a spit, breathing heavy, fat bouncing every which way, why don’t you just quit.”  

Polly pipes in and says “Gurl!! Who cares what everybody thinks?  Gym hair, don't care! You are sparkling like the drippy diva that you are! You are crushing it! Run girl, run!”

The mindset of self-hate can and will breakdown even the strongest willed person and deflate motivation in the blink of an eye.

The only thing that can be said is do not listen to “Negative Nellie.”  She is not a fan and will hinder your progress. Tell “Nellie” to back up the bus and step off because she is not welcome on this ride.

For me, YES, running is happening on the very machine being occupied.  Granted my stride is short, but this girl is getting faster & healthy as time goes by.

The lesson that needs to be learned is to never compare your goals, the way you look or your journey to someone elses goals and journey. 

Fast or slow, a mile is a mile and every drop of sweat makes me sparkle like the #drippydiva that I strive to be.