Seven Day SPRING Challenge

Wooohooo! Blossoms are on the fruit trees; my wisteria has buds; the jasmine is fragrant; and I'm wearing a tee shirt sans sweater. That means that it is time for a Seven Day SPRING Challenge! Are you up for it?

Here's how it works, as before...

Seven days. If you forgot all about this and don't start 1 September, start on the 2 September.

ONE - Decide to do this. Come on, what you gotta lose?

TWO - Make it public. Comment on this post. Public expression aids commitment. Whoop-whoop!

THREE - Set a distance/duration. Make each session tangible by setting a minumum distance or duration for each day - like run/walk a minimum of two kilometres or do any exercise for at least 20 minutes. Walking your dog for five minutes doesn't count; walking your dog for 20 minutes does (and your dog will love it too!).

FOUR - Priorise YOU. What I've learned so far is how easy it really is to prioritise yourself when you commit to it. Too often we skip yoga classes, runs and rides for deadlines, this and that... I know I'm guilty of this. Ask yourself, is your reason for not going for a 20-minute run/walk/ride good enough?

FIVE - Any activity counts. It doesn't have to be just one. You can choose to walk or run every day for seven days or mix it up with other disciplines. Just do something every day, for seven days.

SIX - Keep a log. Whether you count kilometres or hours, record what you've done over the seven days. I really enjoy recording my runs with colourful tracks on Google Earth as a rewarding visual tally.

SEVEN - Be proud. It's a mind thing to make your daily dose of exercise a priority. You can do it and you will be very proud on that seventh day.

I can guarantee that this Seven Day Challenge will help to get your training back on the wagon and it will  refocus your attention on you and what is important to you (fitness, health, exercise, de-stress, freedom).

My challenge? I'm going to run every day for seven days. Nice way to stretch my legs out after the Fish River Canyon Ultra. I'm also doing the 'Try something new for 30 days' thing to do 10 sun salutations every day this month.

As for the not eating cheese for 30 days... I stopped eating cheese on 26 July and didn't touch it for two weeks. Then I went to a relative for lunch and there was some cheese cooked into the meal. It was only then this weekend in Namibia, that I had some cheese on a sandwich that was made for me while travelling. I haven't had any of my usual lunchtime cheese and tomato sandwiches.

Has this helped to make my morning's brighter? Mmmm... not sure. Spring's arrival has probably made a bigger difference ;)