I remember at the start of my summer vacation I woke up at 8 a.m. determined to go for a run. Sure enough, I took a three mile route, and 27 minutes later I was back home. I decided that I would make it a goal to do the same thing 6 out of 7 days a week for the entire summer (I need to be in-shape for my volleyball team try-outs). The next morning, I got up and took a new route. The morning after that, I took another route. The problem is, in my neighborhood, going for a three or four mile run doesn’t give me many options. Pretty soon, I was running exactly what I did on the first couple days. Week one was done, but I was already bored. I knew my plan wasn’t going to work. I already was thinking of all sorts of excuses not to run.

I love playing volleyball and basketball. Biking can be enjoyable. I also am fortunate enough to have an available pool in which to swim. With all these options, I started thinking, why do I keep running every day? I have so many other ways to stay active besides with running. Of course, some are of a lesser intensity than others, but I can do them for longer. There are sites online that can tell you how many calories you burn doing different activities. It varies for people because of differences in weight. The site I used was HealthStatus. All you have to do is plug in your weight and then the amount of time you spent doing certain activities, and it will give you a simple total burned-calorie count.

When you’re planning on doing something active, always remember your options because they are limitless. Think of what activity you would enjoy the most, and break a sweat while enjoying yourself.