This Should Be Interesting

A challenge has been put forth. My mother and I are both motivationally challenged when it comes to doing cardio exercise on a regular basis. So the question is this: can two lazy people motivate each other to not be so lazy?

If our battles on the golf course are any indication of what is to come during this challenge – it could get ugly. Sometimes there is no mercy. I complain, she cheats, I get pissy, she manages to beat me, she has uncanny luck and I get pissier. I could go on, but I will spare you the details. Fortunately, this challenge doesn’t involve any luck. There will be bragging rights, but we are both attempting the honorable goal of being more active so we’re both winners. Yeah, right! I still want to win and I know she does, too. Let the heckling begin!

The rules, which will evolve as we undoubtedly become cardio queens, begin with us committing to 3 days of cardio per week for a cumulative total of at least 60 minutes of cardio time. We each earn points for any additional time above and beyond the 60 minutes. Time must be reported via photos of our cardio machine and achieved time. The photos will be posted on our respective blogs - mine and hers. The challenge began yesterday and will run through August 1st. The winner gets a $25 gift certificate to the store of their choice. My mother has selected Whole Foods, which is an interesting choice considering she doesn’t have one where she lives.

Some of you out there might assume that I would have the advantage over my mother because of our respective ages. Not so. I don’t have a very good track record with challenges – I’ve signed up for the SELF Magazine Challenge two years in a row and haven’t done a darn thing with it. I agreed to a long run challenge with my brother and a fellow runner to keep us on track for our half/full marathon training and I weaseled out of it pretty early on. I completed the half marathon, but my training was pretty miserable for the last 2 months. I need to figure out a way to transfer my desire to win on the golf course to winning in the gym.

It’s all in good fun and I look forward to all of the friendly banter between the two of us.

By the way, my mother has graciously agreed to accept my 32 minutes on the elliptical from yesterday morning without visual documentation.

One quick note from this past weekend – my week had its usual highs and lows with regard to my eating and exercise. My Friday, however, was sabotaged by my co-workers who wanted to go out to lunch. We went to a place called 2 Hippies and the Magic Mushroom Burger. How could I say no to a place like that? My only choices were hamburgers or hot dogs. I went with the Roasted Green Chile Hamburger, no cheese, fries and orange soda. Who knew an orange soda was 200 calories – I could have had two beers for that!

Game on, Mi Madre!