Running in the Family

I just found out today that a friend of mine from college was on the Rachel Ray Show because she and several friends decided to start a running group during lunch at work – the “Lunch Ladies.” They keep themselves motivated by finding a fun run to do each month, and for December they chose the Santa Shuffle.

The Santa Shuffle - Chicago, IL

If hundreds of runners in Santa suits don’t motivate you, then I don’t know what will!

When you’re running a family, it’s hard to find time to run. And it’s easy to make excuses not to.

“I have an early meeting, so I can’t run in the morning.”
“I don’t know what people at work will think, so I can’t run at lunch.”
“I’m too tired, so I can’t run in the evening.”

Finding or forming a group (like the “Lunch Ladies”) is a great way to keep yourself from falling prey to your excuses. If you know other people are expecting you to be there, you’ll be less likely to wimp out. (if you didn’t click the Rachel Ray Show link earlier to watch the video, now would be a good time)

And even if you don’t run with a group, you can use friends and family to keep you on track. Tell them your fitness goals. Tell them how often you want to work out. And then ask them to check in on you and keep you honest. Of course, if they’re good friends, they would never make you feel bad for missing a run here and there. After all, running should be a way to improve fitness and relieve stress – not add to your already high stress level. But just knowing that they know you want to run, and that they support your fitness goals, will make you run more and run better.

Finding a wacky race is also a great way to shake it up and add some fun to your routine! There are lots of great local races like the Santa Shuffle all over the place. All you have to do is find them, and then sign up! Sometimes they can be tricky to find, so if you know of one go ahead and post it in the comments!

Then take your family along with you, and have a great time together!