Can you guess what my hobby is? Running! It’s great for so many reasons. #1 A great stress reliever. #2 feels so good when you’re done. #3 helps with weight loss when combined with good eating habits. #4 improves heart health, mental health and body. #5 it gets you into shape, in more ways than one. #6 it’s free to run (unless you count the gear once you really get into the sport). I love it! I have to have a goal for it to work for me though. I can’t just go running. I work best with plans. My current goal is to run a 5k. My next goal is to run a 10k. I need to drop 5 more pounds to meet my weight goal. After that is done, then I’ll set another weight goal.

I’m currently training for a 5k. I’m week 4 of 6. There’s no actual race and with how this year, 2020, has gone I won’t sign up for one. I have really never worried about time (how long it takes me) as long as I’m not last place in an actual race. All of the running groups I’m in on social media seems to be all about time, how fast one is. I want more fat burning from my run.

I’ve tried before, but I’m trying again, heart rate training. It is training in a certain heart rate zone (not too high, not too low). It’s harder than I thought it would be. Some days my legs don’t want to slow down and other days you just have a bad run, where it didn’t really feel good most of the way. I’ve recently created a playlist of cadences that might help with heart rate training. I’m not use to cadences. Only heard a couple on our graduation march at the very end of basic training in the Air Force. I’m sure singing along with the cadences will be interesting to try. I try not to be judgemental, but we all know the Air Force is the best. Do you know, at least on Spotify, there’s only one cadence for the Air Force? I was only able to find one. I’m not so sure it qualifies as a cadence, but it’s on my playlist none the less.

I think I prefer running by myself instead of in a group. I started out in a training group when I trained for a half marathon. It was nice meeting people, but being the introvert that I am I’d rather run alone.

It’s been a bit tricky figuring out routes for my runs in the town I now live in. I try to stay off the “loop” now that I’m running during the day. But a run to “Baby” Wal-Mart and back gets me almost 3 miles. I might end up having to do a route a few times to get 6 miles when I get to that point.

My advice to everyone is to never give up! On anything! Not just running. We’ve got one life and life’s too short. Give it your best! And above all else, enjoy your life.