'Idle' No More: Patch Editor Joins Ironman Challenge

I love this mild winter for a lot of reasons.

Minimal car scraping has occurred, I have not once touched a shovel (my landlord plows the driveway) and the usual take-five-hours-to-bundle-up-before-heading-out practice has rarely been applied.

It has also allowed me to get outside for more runs, rather than be strapped to a treadmill logging miles. And that's important, because I am training for my second half-marathon with plans to again participate in the Green Bay Cellcom event, this year on May 20.

That being said, I'm still lacking in motivation to get enough runs in to properly train for this race.

My excuse? Well, let's see.

I'm participating in a full-time online Master's degree program, continuing my day-to-day as a full-time Patcher and with the rest of my freetime have been divulging in my recent-found obsession with the show, "How I Met Your Mother."

All six completed seasons, with about 20 episodes each, are on Netflix. Nick (my boyfriend) and I are midway through season six after having started watching in mid-January. Yeah ... that's a lot of hours, sitting on a couch and munching down empty calories. Gah.

So, I needed a challenge — because apparently tackling half-marathon No. 2 isn't challenge enough to get me off the couch.

Enter, the Feith Family YMCA's Idle Ironman.

The Idle Ironman is an event that starts March 1 and challenges participants to log 26.4 miles running, 112 miles biking and 2.4 miles swimming by March 31. Participants pay $15 to enter, and that gives them access to trainers and regular exercise classes as well as a T-shirt. You also have to be a YMCA member to join the challenge.

And while it might mean I spend a lot of time strapped to a machine inside the Y (hence, idle) it also gives me a measurable goal. Plus, Nick signed up with me — so now it's a partnered challenge. Also, I'm not the best swimmer — so you might start noticing some crazy person doggy-paddling her way across the pool over the next month. That's me.

If you're a Y member, I hope you join Nick and I and the other 50-some people who are already registered in the challenge. It's going to be a great March!