Workout WEdnesday Topic: The Burn Run and the importance of Accountability.

Hello All! This month is flying by! I wanted to take a moment to thank those that shared and commented on my last blog entry. I appreciate your support of my efforts to get my blog out there. In case you missed my Facebook post on The Gym Struggle like page, Melissa M. was the lucky winner of the Fitumi.com fitness tank of her choice. Stay tuned because I will have more giveaways to come, including a biggie!
So let's get down to business. In less than a month I will be running The Burn Run in East Syracuse, NY. The Burn Run was created by the East Syracuse Fire Department and has been running for the past 9 years. It started as a race for firefighters to encourage physical fitness among fire departments. Although this race is popular among First Responders, it is open to all and there is even a kid's fun run. The Burn Foundation of Central New York benefits from a donation from the proceeds given by the ESFD. If you would like more information about The Burn Run, The East Syracuse Fire Department or The Burn Foundation please click the corresponding links.
Some of you may already know the story if you keep up with my Facebook page but for the last few years I have volunteered at the Burn Run. Whether it was handing out water at one of the water stations, helping with the kids fun run, or manning the information tables I tried to be present on race day. There is something about that race culture, runners are some of the most motivated, encouraging and interesting people I have ever met. I wanted to be part of that culture but I had always classified myself as not a runner. Last year I told myself that next November I would be running that race no matter what. 
Finally this past February, I said enough with the excuses and started training for my first 5k. I could not have done it without my cross training. It would not have been possible at all. I started out doing the Insanity Max: 30 program. Its high intensity interval training. (HIIT). Not only did it help me lose weight, it taught my body how to breathe through a workout. I learned an astonishing amount of endurance. The girl that could only run a hundred yards before becoming winded found herself being able to run at a steady pace with controlled breaths. In the Spring I tackled my first 5k and I tackled another in the Summer. I have been able to steadily improve in my training so I decided, what the hell, I will try for the 10k race instead of the 5k. What was I thinking? After a rather tough run last night I am honestly wondering why I had to open my big mouth and say I was going to run the 10k. Then I remembered. These last 9 months I have been "raised" and coaching others in a community of accountability. I opened my big mouth that I was going to run the 10k because then I would be held accountable to my actions by others.
I'm very excited and feel lucky to say that I am not going to do the 10k run alone. One Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago I was sharing my story with a fellow coach, Lindsay, who is getting back into running. I told her my story about my 5k and my weight loss and she said that she would do it with me knowing how important it was to me. Its an awesome feeling when you can work toward a goal with someone that is passionate about the same things as you are. Earlier this week Lindsay and I shared our running and cross training schedules with each other.  We officially started our "crunch to 10k" training last night. Sweaty selfies, pace time, run time, and all.

As you can see last night was a bit of a struggle for me. Tuesday nights for the last couple of months have been a night to relax because I don't instruct group fitness on Tuesday evenings after work. Last night I dragged myself out to get it done. I'm 100% sure if I didn't get a text from Lindsay with her own anguished selfie I probably would have talked myself out of it. That's the beauty of accountability. If you have any kind of conscience, moral compass, guilty feelings-

 you will want to get it done so you don't let that other person down. In my challenge groups I use accountability to keep my challengers motivated and on task with their clean eating and workouts. It works for those that truly want to meet their goal; for the people that have come to the point that they are ready to throw all of their excuses away but need that little push when times get tough.
So maybe this is a good time for you to reflect. What goals are you trying to reach? Have you been on the right track to attain them? Do you find yourself rationalizing excuses; talking yourself out of reaching your goals at every turn? Who knows about your goals and aspirations? Its important for you to take the time to let someone in by sharing your goals with them. Sometimes it just takes one extra person to be that motivating factor to get you moving. xoxo- court

Courtney's 10k training schedule