An exercise-less Olympian

Today marks the inaugural day for "Summer Olympics" at my office. It's the company's attempt to encourage us cube-confined workers to be more active and eat healthy (which, theoretically, means we'll call out sick less often, be more productive when we're here and be less likely to freak out and chuck our computer monitors out the fourth floor windows [by the way, Bill, if you're reading this, I again apologize for killing your brother]).

At any rate, a handful of folks in my department have teamed up to participate - two who are training for the Trek Across Maine, one who's a Maine Roller Derbier, another who's a pilates and yoga fanatic and another who's a vegan (sure, veganism isn't exactly aerobic, but I give her points for exercising her will power against the evils [or delights?] of deli turkey).

(Go ahead, follow Karen's Trek training, Avery's vegan musings and Punchy's dose of derby.)

I figured, with the Reach the Beacon training, I'd be good to go without any additional effort. Kill two birds with one stone, you know. (Or, "kill two stones," as I used to say, because the actual phrase was lost on me for many years.)

But the sad truth is, I haven't run since last Thursday. I know, I know. Shame on me. I did bike this weekend, though, so I haven't been entirely sedentary.

And no, it's not because I got over-enthusiastic with the drink...or the deli turkey, for that matter. It's just life. It gets busy.

But I'm not ditching out on the Thursday run - it's like the beacon of renewal. The weekly jumpstart in case the momentum of your training has slowed to a stop.

It's amazing what group pressure can do to you.

I said the same thing almost exactly a year ago:

"...for now I'll continue to marvel at the positive effects of peer pressure.

What? Thought peer pressure only revolved around booze, drugs and sex? Those things are nice too, but a little arm twisting might be just what you need to put down the tequila and go for a run..."

I still stand by it.