Exercise fiend - Exercise with a Purpose - FUN

Today’s post is a little exercise like and a little motivational all at once. I’ve done posts on the topics of goalsetting and taking action, I’ve also tried to write a variety of posts on different activities with an emphasis on how fun they can be, hoping to motivate you out the door. What if you set a goal to ‘train’ for an activity that was tough, that would test your body as well as your mind? What if you did it with friends, or family? Made a day of it and succeeded?



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If I’ve just been rambling and you haven’t picked my meaning, I’m talking about setting a specific goal to compete in a particular event. What a better way to train than with a specific goal, and time of completion in mind. My partner and I are completing the 7.5k Alzheimer’s memory walk/jog (we’ll run it) in a few weeks’ time. We’re also going to do the Blackmore’s Sydney Running Festival again this year. We’ve set quite big goals for our 9km run. More recently, I’ve been looking into doing the Greatest Athlete Adventure race. It’s a 5km obstacle course. Now I am by no means the greatest athlete. The website suggests that this is open to beginners and every fitness level, I hope they’re right! This obstacle course involves 10 obstacles including leaping over large gaps, scaling a ‘giant’ wall, running up pyramid type stairs, swinging through the ‘jungle’ and I’d imagine there is a decent amount of running in between.

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Doesn’t that sound awesome? Do you think I’m weird? Whether obstacle course torture is your cup of tea or not, why not try finding something you would enjoy. Maybe it is running, or a cycling race that excites you. Maybe it’s something like orienteering, and you could sign up for an adventure race through the bush. There is an orienteering Australia website to help you train. Maybe you used to love swimming. There are plenty of open water swimming races. Why not combine swimming, cycling and running and enter a sprint triathlon? I once knew a beautiful woman who as an adult, hated her career and wanted to learn ballet. She quit her job and started taking ballet lessons and private tutorials to speed her way through all the classes and levels. Her goal was to be a ballet teacher.

I know some of you are reading this and thinking things like ‘oh I couldn’t do that’ ‘I’m no athlete’ ‘I wouldn’t win’ ‘I’m pretty slow’ ‘I’m sure I would come in last’. I think if you looked around for something, you’d be surprised just how many people like you there are out there doing all these wonderful activities. Everyone is a beginner at some point. While I think I’ve got the running thing down, my knees are a bit of an unknown. I’m limited in how much I can run because if I run too much I can barely walk. Will I be able to do the 9km in the time I want? I’m not sure. But I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. I believe if I train smart, I should get there. I would love to do the City to Surf which is 14km, but I think that’s a bit of a stretch. When it comes to doing the obstacle course… well.. That is well and truly out of my comfort zone. I am no athlete. I possess no natural ability for activity, and I’m terrified I’m going to rip my arm out of its socket if I have to swing off anything for too long.  I am in serious training mode. My shoulder muscles will be strong enough to hold my arm on to my body. They will.

I’m excited. Are you excited by your training? Does it have purpose, meaning? Or are you just going through the motions, running around your block 10 times a day, bored and dreaming of more? We all start somewhere. Where does your journey begin?