"I Get to Run Today!" or "How I Discovered I am in a Cardio Music Rut!"

I was sick last week and in an effort to heal I over-extended my rest period. I skipped Aerial Yoga on Sunday morning and was content to lay in bed and read all day. However I am reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and it's really hard to stay sluggish when you're reading about amazing Ultra Marathon runners who consider a 20 mile run on the weekend the equivalent of a rest-day. Then on page 112 I realized what I have been missing about running. It's a gift. I actually get to run. I have a body that has strength and ability. Just a few days prior I was in bed with covers over my head and a temperature of 101.4. Then miraculously a few days later I was fine. The only thing stopping me from running was my own head.

So I got dressed, grabbed a light lunch and then went to the gym. I wasn't sure I was ready to run outside so stuck with the treadmill. The previous week I made it to running 5 minutes with a break. February is my month to work on endurance so I figured six minutes was a good goal. However, when I got going it felt great. At six minutes I decided to go to seven and then ultimately I went for thirteen. I still have a lot of work to do and a great ways to go before the Mini Duathlon in May. However I have learned the key and that is to smile while I run, embrace every moment because I am lucky enough to have the ability.

Of course, I also discovered my rocking mix on the iPod helped too. I will have to ween myself off of music for the race but in the mean time it makes a huge difference to my cardio performance. Running for "one more song" is a lot more fun than running for "one more minute". That next song hits you and you just keep going.

Then I got on the treadmill the next day but the same mix didn't have the same effect. I was bored with it already. I went to my iTunes and it just overwhelmed me. I began going to the staples and that's not what I need right now. I need different! Then I realized after reading a bunch of tweets I am not alone; Others are in this rut. So I invite you to shake it up and exchange music with me and others (if you choose).

Here's the guidelines:

• Email me at thecupcake@mycupcakemafia.com by February 26 and let me know if you want to do a one-on-one exchange with me or a group exchange.


• If it's just you and me, I make a mix, you make a mix, we mail them to each other easy peasy.


• If you're interested in a group exchange you make a mix and burn "x" number of copies and send them to me. I will let you know the number of copies the week of March 1. Then when I receive all the copies I will package them all up and send them back out to each person who submitted a mix. You could end up with a lot of new mixes to keep you motivated.

That's it! Pretty simple and a fun way to shake up your spring training :) Keep moving, keep smiling! Be amazing!