Spring Shapeup Week 8 – Getting Ready for 100 Miles in May!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m in Easter candy overdose right now. What is it about all the brightly coloured candy and delicious chocolate goodies that I just cannot resist? Lets just say that I feel queasy enough to make this a veggies-only day. The thought of anything rich or decadent makes me feel worse. Is it possible to have a sugar hangover?

Anyways, enough about my lack of willpower for sweets, today I wanted to talk about the upcoming 100 Miles in May Challenge!

I’ve had so many great responses and I’m hoping to add even more people to the list. With the weather getting so much nicer, I want to get everyone out there and moving! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

When I first started thinking about this challenge a couple of months ago, there were three main reasons why I wanted to take this on:

1) Get back to running outside

Running in Siesta Key in March!

Last year I started running and I’d love to continue it again this year. Even though it was a real mental challenge to get up and start running sometimes, I always felt great afterwards and it was a great stress reliever. I’ve got a busy month coming up at work and I know I’ll be needing something to clear my wandering mind and keep me focused when I need to be. Running seems to deliver that for me. I don’t go fast and I don’t go far, but I make sure I get a good workout.

2) Take Whiskey on more walks

Before I moved my office, I used to walk 30 minutes to and from work with Whiskey every day. It was not only an economical way to get to work, but it also was a great way for us to bond. Now that my office is a bit farther away and more difficult to take him with me, he is spending more time at home alone. We play and snuggle when I get home, but I think that we both need to get back to walking together not just to exercise, but also to bond. I miss my walks with my little buddy! I’m hoping the challenge will help me get back into the good habit of taking him on longer walks.

3) Explore the city with friends

Queen West Art Crawl

When I first moved to Toronto, I used to go on long walks all over the city with my friend Alex. He’d lived in the city for quite a few years and knew all the fun and interesting neighbourhoods to visit. I would spend hours wandering around looking at new places, popping into fun shops, discovering new parks. I sometimes feel like I’ve just gotten too used to the city and sometimes forget to take a break and look around at all the great areas of the Toronto that I don’t get to see on a daily basis. With this challenge, I intend to start exploring areas of the city that I have never been to before and getting some of my friends to come out and join me.

If you’re interested in joining the challenge, give me a shout: smallhomebigstart[at]gmail.com

I’m still out of the city visiting my family, so it seemed appropriate to do a playlist with some of my favourite country songs to workout too. It was actually really hard to narrow it down to just ten songs because I’m a huge country fan and listen to it all the time in the car, at the office and in my apartment, so of course there are some songs that made it into my regular workout playlists too!

As Jeff Foxworthy says: “I like country music because it’s about the things in live that really matter…Its about love, family, friends, with a few beers, a cheap woman, and a two-timing man thrown in for spice.”

Yeehaw! Country Workout Mix