It started simply enough…
Mary of A Merry Life had made a comment on Twitter yesterday about maybe wanting to do a workout pledge. She was considering doing 30 seconds on the treadmill per comment. I told her to be careful, because she tends to get A LOT of comments, but then nonchalantly said I’d match whatever the pledge was in a workout.
And so it began…
By the time commenting closed at 2:30pm CST, there were 180 comments, which equates to 90 minutes on the treadmill. Holy shit! But that isn’t even the best part! What I thought was going to be a small challenge involving Mary and I, became SO MUCH MORE.
As of this writing, there were at a TON of other people doing the pledge as well!
- Mary
- Jen
- Lauren
- Josie
- Tina
- Tania
- Meegan
- Kepa
- DCKate
- Beej
- Jodi
- Andrew
- Shelli
- Amber
- Jess
- Sean
- Karen
- Kat
- Lynne
- Michelle
- Lynn
- Gina
- Rachel
- Mary’s Mom
The coolest part about that is that I don’t even think that is a complete list! That is what I pulled from Mary’s posting, but more and more people are joining the fold in the post comments! I find it absolutely fascinating that this pledge became just as much a community exercise as it did actual, well, exercise!! This blogging community truly is awesome, there is just no other way to say it.
Anywho, so about the run.
Ninety minutes on the treadmill, right? Easy peasy. Oh wait, I want to actually try to run all of that? That may be a different story…
…or maybe not…kinda…
7.91 miles in 90 minutes!!!! BOOYAH!
The longest I’ve spent on the treadmill in one session, and the farther I’ve ran in one sitting. WooHoo! Now, I did have to walk for a few brief moments (sidestitch sucks), but whatever. I also tried to maintain a slower running pace than usual. Generally, speaking, I don’t really like to go below 6.0mph, but I’ve never tried running for this long before, and I wanted to conserve my energy, so for the most part was running was kept at about 5.5mph. I did run one full mile at 6.0mph though, and I even had a couple of brief flirtations with 7.0mph, so WooT!
Once I got an idea of how my pace was, I told myself, and the tweeps, that I wanted to get at least 7.5mph under my belt. Seeing as how I got .41miles over that, I’d say I did okay.
ALSO, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been running my treadmill runs on a 1% incline…this was true today…mostly. For the last 10 minutes I ran at 2%. It actually wasn’t that bad.
And check this out…I even got a shout out on YouTube! Thanks Kepa!
Haha..yeah…I don’t think he REALLY hates me though…hehe 
Last but not least…Beej suggested we post pics of ourselves after the workout, so here you go, me in all my sweaty, grody, glory:
Sexy, right?
That’s all I got for now. Be sure to follow the progress of the fellow runners. Most are livetweeting the run, and you can track ‘em with the hastag #amerryworkoutpledge.
Have a great evening, everyone!
That’s so awesome! I think Kepa doesn’t really hate you.
I love that some people are running farther/longer than they ever have. This ROCKS.
Merry Mary´s last blog ..A Merry Workout Pledge! #amerryworkoutpledge
This challenge was SO VERY NEEDED! I feel really revved up, and almost want to go out and run some more!
…almost…I think I’m gonna chill a bit first
Me too! This was such an awesome thing! I’m so pumped still that I feel like I should go do more! So I totally get what you are saying. Haha.
Merry Mary´s last blog ..A Merry Workout Pledge! #amerryworkoutpledge
We should totally do more! It was very much needed and super awesome! I need to do more things like that because I can haul my ass to the gym if I want to, but I don’t challenge myself that way often enough.
Lauren´s last blog ..Workout Pledge of Awesomeness SUCCESS!!!
Very cool to see this. I love it when runners/bloggers do stuff like this. Makes me a bit nervous to announce what I want to do for Relay for Life, but it’ll be worth it.
Haha..don’t be nervous! I have no doubt it’ll be worth it, and I can’t wait to hear whats goin down.
Wow! 7.91 miles! Good work! Burn, burn, burn!!
Bahaha! Hells yeah! Thanks!
Awesome Job!!!
Thanks!!!
Figured out how to read this from the couch…no idea if commenting will work! Never tried on my phone before. But sorry, not leaving couch! woot! We rule!!! Love my bloggy community. You have the next one!!!
I totally think we should switch up the “host”. A new person each week, or however often we do it? I’m on the couch too, but I have a laptop. WooT!
I’ll have my post pledge post later. I don’t know about that picture though. I’m going to be completely sweaty and gross. Look at you go though! I think I’m going to be doing about 5.0 pace since I’ve never ran over 5 miles yet so we’ll see how long my endurance is. Good job!
Jess´s last blog ..Day 58: A Pledge
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and will get bored with 5.0mph. I was, hence my “flirtations” with 7.0. Can’t wait to see your pledge post!
You’re awesome and so supportive. What a good friend you are. We’re lucky to have you! I love this idea. If I hadn’t been traveling…
Awwww, thank you so much! You totally made me smile.
And don’t worry, I’m sure this is only the beginning of the pledges.
I sure hope it’s the beginning of a long line of community challenges. SO awesome!!
Whooo! Great job!! I will be doing this challenge tomorrow on my elliptical. I’ll be posting a video of before, after and some of the in between. I have never done the elliptical for more than 45 minutes so it should be fun times. I love this pledge thing and I can’t wait until the next one (although I might sing a different tune after I do it tomorrow haha)
Michelle´s last blog ..Weigh In Wednesday – Week 11
Like Mary said, alot of people are doing more with this challenge than before. It’s really kinda great
Look forward to hearing about how you did!
Y’all did great!!! Congrats!
Chad´s last blog ..Karma: I Hate You…
WooT! Thanks!
That’s awesome man, great work! I would have loved to join you guys, but alas, tonight is not my workout night. My wife and I trade off every other night, one of us exercises, and the other puts the kids to bed. Maybe next time!
Brandon´s last blog ..Weekend Warriors Challenge: The Empire Strikes Back
Lamest. Excuse. Ever.
Seriously though, I hope you can join in next time too, that’d rock!
Great job, Steve. You really took this pledge and used it to push yourself so far. Inspiring! You did more than a 10k. How cool is that??
I know!!! It’s beyond awesome!
I’m impressed, nice one Steve!
Harry´s last blog ..Weigh-in #28: Back on track
Thanks!!! Wanna join in on the next one?
This challenge was the coolest thing to watch unfold. Funniest. Video. Ever. from Kepa! Way to go on your 7.91 miles (you owe me 0.9 more to make it an even 8!!!) You looked so pissed off in the picture – what’s up with that??
Haha…I always look like I’m pissed off…I know several people who can vouch for that too! I wasn’t though, I swear!
You gonna participate in the next one?
[...] Steve [...]
Muy sexy!! Lol great job. I should have tried to do something like this. Although 90 minutes is a lot to do in one cardio session. Maybe in the future when I feel ready…
Congrats!
[...] Steve ran 7.91 miles! [...]
Way to go! Look at you running the farthest you have ever run WOO HOO! You are are sexy sweaty
It’s all good and I know that Kepa does not really hate you it’s all love!
I’m envious that you can run so long! I can do the elliptical at a pretty good clip, but I long for the day when I can actually schlep this body around at greater than a walk.
Lauren´s last blog ..Workout Pledge of Awesomeness SUCCESS!!!
Wow, you look pretty good in that photo for someone who just spent 90 minutes on a treadmill! Congrats!
If I’d have seen this at the time, I would have definitely joined in with this. I suppose there’s nothing stopping me from doing 90 minutes on the treadmill one evening this week however.
Darren´s last blog ..Walking to Work
I couldn’t do it…not to save my life I couldn’t do it! ok…yes I can run for 90 minutes…did it for 3 hours tonight in fact….it is the treadmill part I couldn’t do..I would DIE of boredom! I have chosen cold, icy, rainy, snowy, sleety nastiness to run in, over the treadmill time and time again…it has been proven…if I am forced to that machine…I NEVER finish a run, I KNOW i can do…
with that said…you are my hero for 90 minutes on the dreadmill!
btw, just added you to my blogroll!
[...] Steve ran 7.91 miles! [...]