Positive Peer Pressure: A Plank Challenge!

On my long run last Saturday, my friend Carrie asked me if I'd like to do a plank challenge with her for a month.  She and some others are in the process of  doing the "Perfect Your Core" Plank Challenge as posted on the He and She Eat Clean Blog.  This did not sound appealing to me mid run -- even though my focus right now is supposed to be on total body fitness.   A plank for this purpose is being in a prone position supporting your body weight with your arms with the weight of your lower body being supported by your toes.  In other words, imagine preparing to do a push up, and instead of going down and back up, you hold the first position.   I told her I'd try it for 5 days, and that she had to hold me accountable.

I forgot to do it on that Monday, but I did it Tuesday through Thursday.  Instead of starting with day one, I jumped to the day of the month with which the challenge aligned.  The first day wasn't so bad, and I thought this would be easy.   On the second day, I decided this would be hard.  On the third day, I barley got through it.  Instead of scrapping the whole idea, I will start from the beginning and try to do what I can.   It does not help that I do these after a long workout, but that's my plan.

During the week I got into the groove of classes that combine cardio and strength training.  They are rigorous and much harder than going for a typical run.  In one class when the instructor asked the class how we were feeling, one woman yelled out, "I should have gone running!" (with the group I usually run with at the Y instead of suffering through this class.)  I thought she was just joking at first, but now that I've been to a few of these classes, I realize she was not joking at all.

In the midst of one class with sweat dripping off my nose I thought, "This is for Boston!"  It wasn't for the good people of Boston, but rather for my own selfish reasons.  If I am working this hard to be in shape for Boston, I am determined to make it into the race, run the race, and do my best in the race. In a previous post, I commented that if I don't get in, it just wasn't meant to be.  In that moment at the Y,  I really, really, really wanted to run the 2014 Boston Marathon.  I felt like a selfish, bratty kid, but in adult form, because I knew that I was being selfish the moment I thought it.  If I am accepted, this will make a good mantra, and it won't be totally selfish then.