Running. Love it or leave it?

One thing I used to just hate doing was running.  I would rather die than go running.  Running is hard, it makes you sweat and it always leaves you as a heaving sweaty lump on the floor.

Well that’s how I used to think about it at least.

Since I’ve been working out and trying to lose weight and get fit I’ve found running to be an addictive form of exercise that is crucial in helping me along the road to dropping the pounds.  Once you’ve been running for a while you get to the point where your body craves the running high, and you can’t wait to go running the next day.

What has been especially effective for me is engaging in high intensity interval training (HIIT). Basically what HIIT involves is a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. The period of alternating effort and recovery intervals typically lasts a total of 15-20 minutes for me.

photo credit: tanakawho

While I’ve come to enjoy running (to a certain extent), I’ve found at least one other blogger who enjoys it a whole lot more than I do.  Shéamus over at Irun365.com is on a journey to run every day for a year, and so far he’s done just that! What are the rules of his challenge? He needs to run every single day for a calendar year, for at least 20 minutes a day. So far he is 50 days into the challenge, and going strong!

Right now there is a competition going on over at Irun365.com for a $30 Amazon gift card. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, subscribe to his site by email and/or write a post on your own blog about his contest. Not a bad deal, eh?

Check out his site today for some inspiration, running tips and some great writing.

As for me, I’m going to go for a run!