You often hear people say things like “Life’s a marathon, not a sprint” or refer to “crossing the finishing line” on a project or deal. Over the past several weeks as I have been training for the mini-marathon and logging a LOT of time alone just running and running with nothing else to think about, I’ve come to understand why so many people compare life to running. Here are just a few of the things that I find myself thinking about and comparing when I am trying to pass the time.

• Pace is the key. Whether in running or in life, you have to pace yourself or you will burn out. Even more than that, you just won’t enjoy yourself. And everyone’s pace is different. It doesn’t do any good to compare yourself to the guy running next to you. Maybe your house is smaller or you take less vacations. Maybe you had your kids later than everyone else. It doesn’t matter. You set your own pace and stick with it, adjusting as necessary.
• Being alone isn’t always bad. I’m the kind of person who hates to be alone pretty much ever. I don’t have any kind of phobia–I just like company and companionship. Yet, I’ve come to understand that I don’t need it all the time and sometimes I am better off just doing my own thing. 90% of my running is done entirely by myself, and I’m okay with that now. It’s genuinely time for me to think and focus on nothing but myself. How often do we all take time for that?
• Change is good. In order to not get bored, I try to change up a lot of things about my runs. Sometimes I change the route. Other times I bring my daughter with me. I change my music or use no music at all. To keep it fresh, I change it. Life is the same. It can be easy to fall into a rut of always eating the same lunches or doing our work in the same way. Change your route. You never know what you might run across.

I could probably keep going all day with this, but these are just a few of the ones that keep coming back to me. How about you? What have you learned from your exercise routine?

Every year for the past seven years I have either run or walked the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Indianapolis. It is an unbelievable event. Even more than the money that is raised, I am impacted each year by the stories that I encounter. When you see a child wearing a picture of his mother with the words “In Memory of Mommy” written on it, you can’t help but be moved. And for every picture or story like that, there is another woman wearing a big pink boa and celebrating her recovery. The crowd is filled with stories of both hope and sorrow, which makes it all the more important to me that I involve my family.

In years past, I have done the race myself while my family played games and waited for me at the finish line. My kids have begged me to participate, but I always selfishly wanted that time to run by myself and reflect. This year will be the first year that the whole Sunshine Family participates. My 9-year-old, Jillian, will be running with me. My husband, Kevin, and my 7-year-old, Cassie, will be walking it. I want my family to understand not only that this cause is important to me but also why it should be important to them.

We have joined a team that will be supporting a teacher from the girls’ school who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m not sure that my girls even know it yet, but we will talk about it when the race gets closer. I’m not asking for my friends to donate, but if this is a cause that you believe in as strongly as I do, I ask that you consider participating in some way–in Indianapolis or in any of the other races across the country. If you are an HPE parent, please consider joining Susi’s Spring Peepers for Mrs. Murphy.

I initially got into running because of the Race for the Cure. After walking it for a number of years, I decided to start running it. I didn’t run fast, but I could run a 5K. After a couple of those, I decided to run my first half marathon last May. For some crazy reason, I signed up for it again this year. Just as I was starting to tire of my training, a great new opportunity came along to turn my runs into money for charity.

Affiliate Summit has started a Nike+ Challenge in which they will donate $1 to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade for each mile run in the challenge (up to $5,000). When I saw this, I immediately hit my local running store to buy a Nike+ tracking sensor and wristband. I then visited the Affiliate Summit East 2010 Challenge page on Nike’s website and set up my account.

Now when I run, I have a higher purpose. I logged a little over 13 miles last week interspersed with my Zumba days. During each run I kept telling myself that each mile was more money being donated to help fight breast cancer. Hopefully this challenge will keep me running well past the Indy Mini and into the summer up through Affiliate Summit in New York in August. If you are an affiliate marketer and are up for a little fitness challenge (whether you walk or run, the sensor works the same), you should definitely check it out. If nothing else, help cheer the rest of us on!

Thanks to the Affiliate Summit Feedfront Magazine, I decided to give a treadmill desk a try. I was never keen on the idea before because I like my exercise time to be my head clearing time. But I got tired of sitting in a chair all day. And I figured that I could combine my “work walks” during the day with some cardio walks and runs and night.

My husband and I set out to rig up my existing treadmill into some kind of desk. I won’t bore you with details, but we were lucky that we had some great things on hand (first…a treadmill! Then other handy items like a docking station). We bought a shelf and two shelf racks at Lowes and built the “treadmill desk.” I put a cordless mouse and keyboard on it and tested it out. After some trial and error, it seemed perfect. I started using it for a couple of days, but the kids were still home for summer break and I was getting ready to head to Affiliate Summit.

Fast forward a bit and I have now completed my first full week of working on the treadmill. Pretty decent stats. I walked just over 16 hours during the day between Monday and Friday. I burned 3730 calories (over a pound!) and walked 34.5 miles. In addition to the obvious calorie burning benefits, here were a couple that I didn’t plan on:

• I drank a lot of water. I hate drinking plain water but was so thirsty that I more than tripled my daily water intake.
• I ate less snacks. Between the time that I spent on the treadmill and the fact that I wasn’t near the kitchen, I just wasn’t thinking about food.
• I slept like a baby. Combine the mental exercise of working with the physical exercise and I was worn out each night!

I’m hoping to get back to running at least a few days a week in addition to the treadmill work. I know that I need that cardio, and I just need to keep running to stay trained to be able to run the mini marathon again next spring. I hope that this is the first of many posts about my treadmill desk!

If you’ve seen pictures of me over the last few years, you know that I struggle with my weight. In fact, I’ve struggled with it since I went away to college. In law school I joined Weight Watchers for the first time. Over the years, I experimented with pills (all legal…but still bad ideas!) and lots of different diets. When it came down to it, I learned to love Weight Watchers. It’s kind of like a challenge to me to arrange the puzzle pieces every day…how do I make the points fit and still eat what I love?

Inspired by Shawn Collins and his Fatblogging, I’m going to start posting a little about my trials and tribulations. I will NOT be disclosing my weight though. It’s just too personal for me.

I’ve belonged to the WW online program for years. Maybe 6? Even when I fall off the wagon, I keep my subscription. I know that it is always waiting for me and I have to be accountable and go back and weigh in again. Since I am on the computer all day anyway, it’s convenient for me to use the online tracking.

I had done a great job of getting in shape before our Sunshine Rewards cruise last October. It was the best that I had felt in years. But then the holidays came and I gained about 7 pounds. I started training to run the mini marathon and stopped counting points. I thought the running alone would keep me in shape. Wrong! I gained another 5 pounds! So I found myself up 12 pounds from the fall. Disappointing for sure. But I’m back on the points and the tracking and know that I’ll turn things around by varying my exercise routine and making better food choices.

Have some Weight Watchers tips and tricks? Leave a comment. Over the coming weeks, I’ll post some of my own. First tip? Record as soon as you eat. In fact, if you know what you are having for lunch, record it before you even eat it so you can see how many points it is going to be. You’ll be less likely to get a second helping or dessert if you already have committed to the points in your tracker.