Who holds you accountable?

Yesterday, Krissy and I were going for a run. It's a regular Saturday thing for us, and we almost always do it together unless one of us is out of town for the weekend. (Okay, let's be honest: unless she is out of town for the weekend. My life just isn't that exciting.)

Yesterday though, it wasn't just a run. First we made a stop off at the used toy and clothing sale happening in town. The sale was a bit later then we usually run, but we wanted to go there before running so that we didn't drip sweat everywhere. We spent around 45 minutes looking at cute clothes and checking out the toys. When we were done, Krissy left carrying a bag of clothes and super cute boots and I had scored a great deal on some books and a couple toys.

We didn't feel like running. Truly. It was that feeling where you just don't want to and you would rather go for coffee.

We couldn't though. Because our friendship isn't built on enabling each other to fail. When one of us whines about not feeling like running, we don't validate their excuses and tell them it's okay to skip it. We tell them they should go out and do it anyways. We both know that the feeling of completing a run is amazing even when you didn't feel like it before. Even when you have to fight to do it the whole way.

The other reason that we couldn't skip it was because neither of us could go back home if we didn't run. Our husbands are fabulous, and have no problem hanging with the kids to give us some time. But, if either of us went home before running, we better have a sprained ankle or a broken leg. They'd call us on it and probably send us back out the door.

So, we ran.

It was a tough run. I learned some lessons yesterday about fueling and hydrating properly. I'd eaten breakfast at 7:00, and we started our run at 11:00. I hadn't bothered to bring a water bottle because we were only doing about 6km (3.7mi). Problem being, I wasn't properly hydrated beforehand either.

We got through it though. We kept up a decent pace. We even ran up a couple hills. It was a battle the entire way. I was feeling low. I wasn't bonking, but I think I was in a pre-bonk state towards the end. It didn't feel good, but I actually think it was good to experience it.

In the end, we finished strong and with a smile. We did go for our coffee then. Then we went home, sweaty and in need of showers, having completed our run.

It is great to have people in your life that hold you accountable. In order for any of those people to help you, there is one person that is the most important: yourself.

You have to be the one to choose your goals and your strategies. You have to be the one to decide you want to do it and follow through. Having a support system to help you is a huge advantage, but they are useless if you don't take the first steps. It would create huge stress on a relationship if one person is always pushing the unwilling other one . Nobody wants to be the friend that is always asking about a run and always being turned down. Readers don't stick around blogs where the author is constantly in a "poor me" phase.

Everybody needs a push sometimes, but first you have to make the decision to push yourself. Make it public and ask for help. You'll find that once you start helping yourself, there are countless people that will be there to support you along the way.