This week’s Take It and Run Thursday: strength and flexibility. Yuck, is all I have to say. Well, and what follows in the next two paragraphs.

First, strength training is one of my least favorite activities on the face of the planet (just before stretching, incidentally). I will share my little anecdote from years past though…which may inspire me to mend my ways. When I was a sophomore in college, I began running consistently for the first time. My only goal was to lose weight (and of course I wanted to run faster because I am competitive with myself). Strength training became a part of the routine when two things happened; first, I hit a plateau and was advised by multiple people that strength training would help, and second, Gold’s Gym (where I belonged) began offering strength training classes. No brain work, no counting reps, no keeping track of anything. My kind of strength training. I started to lose weight again…and my running sped up. Now, I occasionally make it to the strength classes at 24 (my new gym), but I really rely on my favorite video, Turbo Jam – Turbo Sculpt. I love it…I just need to do it more often. So, my goal for this week: do strength workouts three times before next Thursday.

On to flexibility: I’m sure it’s important to stave off injury. I am not flexible. I was actually discussing flexibility with my brother and sister-in-law this weekend. I had just returned from my fabulous run with Christy and was attempting to stretch. Well, I suppose I was stretching. It’s just no one watching me would have thought I was. We are about the most inflexible (mainly physically, but you could probably apply that to other areas) family on the face of the planet. When I cheered in high school, I had to do the splits everyday (seven days a week) in order to not lose the ability to do them. As I am not in the practice of kicking my legs in the air these days, my flexibility is basically non-existent. So, goal number two for this week: do my yoga video one time. Yes, just once. I am all about realistic goals.

Thank you, Runners’ Lounge, for inspiring me to do better. If you want some actual advice or information about benefits, I’m sure you can go there and read other people’s much more informative posts.

And now, for our winners from last week’s contest:

1. For the person who guessed my number 2 song first: Janssen.
2. As for the random winner from the comments made (chosen by one of my student employees): Beth.

Mixes will be in the mail on Monday!