Inspiration and Motivation Can Come From the Unexpected Places

Gazing GBH at Bosque
Originally uploaded by Fort Photo

Let me take care of some of the formalities first. My weight hasn’t changed much and I’m guessing my body fat hasn’t either. This isn’t for lack of trying; it’s because of a half effort. I managed to increase my workout frequency last week. I ran four times, including one seven mile run, and did some resistance training twice. Despite my jiggle factor being fairly high, there must be some foundation of health hiding somewhere. At 190+lbs the fact that I’m able to propel myself around for a distance of seven continuous miles gives me hope.

I’ve decided to give myself some “additional” motivation. I have made a “Biggest Loser” type wager with a friend. Each month we will check our body fat. Whoever loses the least percentage of fat pounds will buy breakfast for our group at work.

I’ve been finding motivation in other places as well. Generally on the weekends I will go out for a long run. Typically we do this long run along the Rio Grande, specifically in an area called the bosque (pronounced boss-k). Bosque is a riparian forest along a river. During this time of year, many migrating birds make the bosque their home. In the last few weeks I have seen bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, Canadian geese, Sandhill Cranes, and Great Blue Heron’s during my weekend long runs. It’s a great feeling to be out when most others are still in their beds, and then look up and in the sky or a tree see one of these magnificent creatures. I really look forward to my weekend runs right now; wondering what kind of wildlife I will see.

The above photo was taken by Michael Menefee a.k.a. Fort Photo on flickr. (Click on the photo to see more from him). Thanks allowing me to use this photo on my blog.