You don’t need to wait until the New Year to exercise, nor do you need to pay for the pleasure! I would rather run on the streets, pound the pavement and get my miles in for free. £40 a month to exercise inside a sweaty building or run free whenever you feel like it, wherever you feel like it? I know my preference.
Get Outside
Gyms have a purpose, I see that. There’s a couple of times this week I thought I’d be better off running on a treadmill than in the rain, but there’s no better feeling than pounding the streets and getting soaked to the skin – it means you don’t need a shower! Avoid monthly gym fees by exercising in the great outdoors!
Challenge Yourself
I while ago a took on a Christmas challenge which you can apply to any season to give you a reason to get up and out if you’re feeling unmotivated. The idea is to run:
a 1km run
a 2km run
a 3km run
and so on until you’ve done 12 runs including the ‘big one’, the 12km run!
You don’t have to do it in any order and you have from December 1st until Christmas Eve to complete it – so you could do one day running, one rest day, one day running, one rest day, etc.
Unfortunately I got ill with kidney problens before I completed it. But it gave me a reason to get out and I had finished my 1km, 2km, 3km, 6km, 10km & 12km runs. I was aiming for the 11km I got taken ill.
The Full Experience
At the end of the 24 days (some people have done the challenge in 12 days!) you should have ran 78km. That’s some good exercise and it’s free! Run free on the streets, in the parks, round the block if you want.
Working out, or taking part in a fitness challenge with friends is a great fun way of staying fit. There are loads of free running groups, search for your nearest one online. Weekly parkrun events are free too! Maybe you could even diversify your exercise and start cycling? Don’t forget to work on what you’re eating too, my free food planner is great for this.
Get out there, run free & enjoy some exercise folks!
