Roommate Run

I don't normally partake in physical activity (except during my few months of funemployment, and if you count bike rides to work and my refusal to take elevators unless I'm traveling up more than four stories), but Brit and Brooke convinced me to join them for our very first Roommate Run this afternoon. A new tradition? Perhaps. I would never go for runs on my own when I could watch TV or cut pictures out of magazines or almost anything but willingly exert more energy than it takes to travel from my bedroom to the couch, but knowing two other people would be suffering with me encouraging me along the way helped get me off my butt and out into the brisk January day.

The best motivation to staying/getting active is other people who are also active. If your friends are all skinny, you're more likely to be skinny. If your friends lounge around eating junk all day, you're more likely to join them. If your friends fall into both camps, well, you are probably a teenage boy enjoying the peak of your metabolic rate.

What I'm saying is, this will only become a tradition if Brit and Brooke continue to guilt me into joining them. Once we were out and running, I was fine ("fine" meaning I hung back about a block, you know, to keep an eye on everything). Side cramps set in at about the three block mark and not long after that, it felt like I was running with spare change filling my non-existant pockets. Doesn't matter, I made it the whole way--just about two miles--only stopping for traffic and to regroup at the halfway mark. 

We were all proud of ourselves for actually doing what we optimistically suggested this morning, but our very different exercise philosophies became apparent as soon as we got back inside. Brit moved aside our coffee table so she could continue exercising. Brooke joined in for a bit, but it wasn't long before she was doing more stretching than circuits, and eventually she gave even that up to do her nails. And me? I went right into post-workout stretching followed closely by post-workout nourishment. I don't know how the other two weren't starving. By the time I was fully cooled down, I had devoured an apple, nuts and chocolate, chips with avocado and hummus, and pizza. We finished breakfast at least two hours before running...it was definitely pre-lunch time.