posted by Chris Barber
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Kristin Bourdon is on her way to running everyday for a full year!  A goal like this one takes so much determination and discipline really intrigued me so I asked her a couple of questions about this amazing goal.

Why did you decide to start running for a year ever day consecutively?

I have always been very disciplined with my workouts.  Working out consistently is not one of my issues!  A long time ago, I learned a very valuable lesson from my Dad who told me, “You will never look back on your life and wish you spent more time at the office.  Take some time each day for yourself to work out and you will be more productive and happier.”  So, when I was in the Navy, I used to spend my lunch hour every day working out.  Now, as a mother of three young boys, my life is super busy.  It is really easy to blow off a work out to do other stuff because there is always so much to be done.  Before establishing this goal, I would find myself getting wrapped up in the kids and before I knew it, the day was over.  This would stress me out and make me grumpy and irritable!  I realized two things.  First, if I got my workout done first thing in the morning, I was still available to the kids for the rest of the day and second, I needed the run to make me feel more productive and happier throughout the day.  So, last October I made a formal commitment to myself to run everyday for an hour no matter what.  This eased the pressure.  Instead of finding myself at dinner time still needing to squeeze in a workout and upset that it just wasn’t going to happen, I started each day saying “what is the plan and when is the workout going to happen?”

That’s a great way to make sure you get the work out in!  I never work out after dinner, I always make sure I eat too much.  About how many miles do you run a week?

I always run between 6 and 9 miles a day.  Nine is the most I will go – only because I know I have to do it again the next day.  I have a running partner who does not care to run every day nor as far as I like to go.  It works out perfectly.  We meet and run about 4 miles together and then I continue without her to finish up the hour.  We probably run together three times a week on average.  Knowing I have to meet her makes getting out the door so much easier and once I am going, finishing the hour is not a problem.

Do you incorporate or count any other cardiovascular activities like biking or swimming?  Not that either of those are as cool as running and should count.

I swim 3500 yards one day a week – I look forward to swimming when I just feel too worn down to run.  It takes me 70 minutes to do my swim workout – I consider those extra 10 minutes as a buffer for the days that my run ends up being 55 minutes!  We recently joined a gym and I will run on the treadmill – even though I prefer to run outside.  But if I take a yoga class, I do not count that towards my hour – so I don’t take classes very often!  Occasionally on gym days, I will do the ellipitcal machine or the stair climber – but only after running on the treadmill for at least 5 miles – this is strictly because the treadmill is SO BORING!  Nothing else counts towards my goal – not even spending a whole day walking around Sea World!

Stay tuned for the next istallment tomorrow!

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