(not) running for gifts

I have been extremely delinquent in my running. Thus far I have 8 tally marks on my "Running For Gifts" sheet. The horror!!! It's been 31 days and I've gone a total of 6 times. I'm sure that you're thinking, "If you've only run 6 times, how do you have 8 tallies?" Well. Matt gave me one for doing the dishes and one for doing a P90X video. This averages to 2 times a week which is not terrible, but not accurate since I haven't run in a week and a half.

I have come to two conclusions:

1. I really dislike running with my whole being. When I am done I feel exhausted, extremely sweaty, and my left knee aches for the rest of the day. I did the extremely difficult P90X ab ribber video and realized that the thought of doing that video twice in a row was much more appealing than going outside and running halfway over the Williamsburg bridge and back.

2. I need to set a deadline and make a plan to accomplish my goal. Matt did say that I could use a P90X video in place of a run. I think that I can have my 50 runs by July 23rd. That means I have to run 3 times a week, and I can expedite the process by throwing in some P90X videos every once in awhile. Or, if I really don't want to run I can still make my goal by doing a video.

*Here's the fine print rule I've given myself about the videos: I have to do them in order. There is a whole calendar with P90X because the concept is muscle confusion- i.e. you do different exercises each day to eliminate the plateau effect from a set routine. If I skip a run I have to do the videos in order. The first one is an hour and a half of chest and back exercises. This will make running much more tempting seeing as the run only takes me 25 minutes door to door.

Extra incentive to get this done by July 23rd- I'm leaving for California the last weekend of July. By that time I'll be super fit, swim suit ready, and geared up for my gift from Matt! :)