New shoes!

Right after Christmas I bought a pair of sneakers that were on sale. They were identical, except for color, to a pair I've had for a while. The old pair were pink which for some reason I just loved, still love, but they are really worn on the bottom. When I compared the soles of the two pairs I was amazed by how much use I had gotten out of them. Just a few weeks ago I bought a pair at Payless, one of the new ones they have been advertising for getting in shape. I bough the pair with the Cradle Toning bottoms that are supposed to create slight instability so that your muscles have to work even harder. i already own a pair of Avon's Curves sneakers that are similar to Sketchers Shape-Ups. While I like the Avon pair and have worn them quite a bit, I always feel like they need a bit more cushioning. This new pair feels more cushioned. I've been wearing them for the past two days and they are really comfortable. I can't tell if they are making me work harder because I have added in some harder periods into my workouts and have been walking extra the past few days so, while my muscles are feeling the work, I don't know if it is the shoes or the exercise. Because the sneakers at Payless are more reasonable than some other brands, these actually cost less than lots of other ones I've seen in ads. So if you are looking for a new pair sneakers you might want to check them out!

Spring is in the Air!

When the weather got warm a few weeks ago it jump started me out of my winter funk. I feel like I have more energy and have started to make more time for exercise and health in my day. Right after Christmas I had bought a pair of sneakers that were to be my running sneakers. I didn't let myself wear them, but put them next to the treadmill for when I started running. For three months they sat there until this week. The first day I put them on I used the treadmill for 50 minutes and ran for 8 of them, perhaps not great but a start. The second day I didn't run at all. Same with the third, fourth and fifth days. But I did use it for an hour and pushed myself to walk faster and at higher inclines to work in some intervals and get my heart rate up. This is awful but I've found that if I let myself take even one day off from working out I then skip the next day and so on until it has been a long time since I made the time. To make more of a commitment to being healthy and sticking with a routine I decided to put it in writing where other people could see it. That way I am not only accountable to myself but to others, because if I say I am going to do something, I do it! Even when I don't really want to. I am hoping that as I start to feel more enery and stronger that I start to want to exercise more than feel like I have to exercise, but as long as it is getting done for now I am going to count it as a step in the right direction!