going the extra mile

When I am doing any type of exercise that includes mileage, I watch the counter like a hawk.  Every tenth of a mile, every second it takes to get there, I soak it all in and attempt to make myself pedal a little harder, jog a little faster.  Every extra bit of mileage I can fit in makes me feel accomplished.

Most of my cardio workouts last about 30 minutes.  I don't know about you, but I try to stay engaged, but after 30 minutes I start to get bored.  SO I have to fit in as many miles, as many calories, as much sweat as I possibly can.Today, I was able to fit in a whole extra mile. 

To the fitness buffs and cardio queens this is no big deal. 
But for a fluffy gal with lower back issues, I am more than thrilled!

I was able to fit in a 7 mile bike ride in 30 minutes.  Up til now it was 5-6 miles and I was content with that.  This is BIG STUFF people.

I give half the credit of this accomplishment to my husband.  How is that possible you ask?  He's not pedaling the bike for me, right?!  WELL we have had this lovely piece of equipment sitting in our livingroom for almost 3 weeks now.  Til this week I had only used it ONE time.  Tuesday night, my sweet loving (*and oblivious) husband asked me "Why I hadn't been using the bike that I was advocating so hard to get?"   
 After a few seconds of hurt feelings mostly comprised of wounded ego and guilt I attempted to be mad at him for questioning my workout ethics, but then I had to take a long deep breath and ask myself...
"WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN USING THIS BIKE?!" 

There's only one answer: I'm using excuses of basically anything and everything to get out of doing it.  AKA--I'm lazy. 
And that has to change.

So, THANK YOU to my handsome husband for accidentally motivating me to go the "extra mile" 

...literally. =)