I’ve found that while I do have a lot of motivation on my own to keep running (hello 20-mile treadmill run!) … I still like a little push to make me work a little harder.

The racing team has been great for getting me to run hills and speed work, and I just finished a four-week Core Challenge that had me adding ab workouts to my routine.

Perfect timing for something new. Enter the 25 Days of Push-Ups Challenge!

I started the challenge today, and I hope to do my push-ups at least three times a week. I’ll add more if my arms can handle it!

I decided to follow challenge hostess Julie’s workout suggestion with the following:

1. Standard push-ups
2. Diamond push-ups
3. Triceps push-ups
4. Staggered push-ups
5. Side plank push-ups

Julie explained each exercise with photos, so visit the challenge page for instructions. I decided I’d start with five of each, with 10 of the staggered and side plank push-ups to keep each side even. After a brief break I decided to do a second identical set.

I was definitely getting tired, and by the end there was very little pushing-up! Well, I know I picked a good starting point — it was challenging but not completely impossible.

I took some ‘before’ photos tonight that I’m going to hang on to until the end of the month. Hopefully there will be a noticeable difference!