Fun Fitness and Long Term Goals – My Virtual Journey

By , SparkPeople Blogger
Are you one of those people that find it boring to exercise?  Do you get tired of logging miles on the dreadmill or the elliptical?  Wondering how you can keep yourself going for the long term?

Awhile back I decided I needed something fun to keep me going.  I needed a goal that would make tracking all those fitness miles interesting.  I chose to start a Virtual Journey.  It wasn’t hard for me or some of my Twilight Challenge team members to make that choice.  I started a message board for our team, and the challenge to track your fitness miles on a virtual trip to Forks, Washington, began.  (For those of you who haven't read Twilight, the main setting for the four books is a small town in Washington.) 

I determined that it would be 2,262 miles from my front door to the Forks High School, and my tracking began.  At the time of writing this blog, I’ve have tracked 1,432 miles. I’ve blogged along the way about states I would be in if I were really running or riding my bike, and what I would do there.  It helps me stay on track to know that there are others doing the trip with me from wherever they are. 

I’m setting up a plan now to make sure I reach my destination before the last movie comes out on November 16, 2012.  Starting January 1, I’ll need to complete 2.5 miles a day throughout the course of the year to reach my goal by the release date.   When you break it down like that it doesn’t seem so intimidating does it?

What’s more important to me than reaching “Forks” is what I’ve accomplished along the way.  I can’t really describe how much my body has changed during 1,432 miles.  During this journey, I’ve lost another 19 lbs and maintained my 90+ lb weight loss for more than a year.  Having that goal out there and communicated to a lot of other people has keep me running, biking, swimming, and tracking steps for 20 months now.   This has become a tool for me that has developed consistency and made working out a routine in my life. In the end, it’s the lifestyle that will help me maintain health for a long time to come.

So how can you take this tool and add it to your kit?  If a Virtual Journey is not for you, how can you make fitness fun?  Here are a few examples of spark members I know that are making it fun their own way: Laurie loves half marathons,  Shelli does it with Hula Hoops, Jerome just did it with his first full marathon, Elaine does it with family hikes and geocaching and my friend Fathin in Malaysia usually does it with jump ropes.   Find what you love and make it a lifestyle!

How can you make fitness more fun?  What can you share in the comments for others about how you keep fitness part of your lifestyle?  What are your long-term fitness goals for 2012?