By now, you know I have made a promise to myself to close my three Apple Watch rings for seven consecutive days as part of my C25K program. I came close the week leading up to Labor Day, but fell short due to injury and shenanigans with the fam.

After a week off to recover (from the injury, not the shenanigans), I got back on the wagon, so to speak.

For some reason, I picked the busiest work-week of the year to accomplish this…

Below is my insane diary of the week that left me exhausted with no excuses and a sense of excitement about my abilities to accomplish an exceedingly difficult goal.

Day 1 – Monday

After adding supports to my shoes, I took the chance. I was afraid to go all-in and start running again, so I walked for a full hour on the treadmill. As silly as I felt just walking (I mean, there was a guy next to me that ran full-on for 20 minutes), it was a good test.

I ended the walk with closed rings and no pain.

Time to up my game.

Day 2 – Tuesday

This is when the real test started. I’ve been told something can become a habit after two weeks. But, after the holiday situation proved to be a bit more than I could handle in the commitment arena, I understood that my real life can get in the way.

So – when I ended up working until 8:00 p.m. and faced a 10:00 p.m. bedtime ahead of an early Wednesday, I was at a crossroad.

My regular day had already helped me rack up 15 minutes of exercise time, so I just needed to round out my Apple Watch Exercise Ring with 15 more.

The goal of closing those rings dangled in front of me like a stuffed rabbit and I was the racing dog. I had to get it this week.

I went to the gym, and created my own C25K run since my body wasn’t 100% ready to jump back in.

• Five-minute walk
• One-minute run
• One-minute walk
• Repeat for 10 minutes
• Five-minute walk

Day 3 – Wednesday

Wednesdays are always long days for me. I’m at work by 7:00 a.m. and usually check out around 5:00 p.m. And after the night before, I was dog tired. I also realized there was very little food in my fridge. What’s worse: there was no wine in there.

I wondered, “Can grocery shopping count as a workout?” Answer: no.

So, another 8:00 p.m. trip to the treadmill (thankfully I live in a building with a gym, so I don’t have to travel far).

I was planning to just walk again. But fate had other plans for me.

I ended up seeing my former trainer as she was wrapping up a session with another client. She came over as I was starting to push “manual” with a 3.5 speed on the tread.

Her positivity and energy rubbed off on me. Dang it. So I ran.

• Two-minute warm up
• Two-minute run
• One-minute walk
• Repeat for 10 minutes
• Five-minute walk

I was so tired by the end of the night, my Sleep Cycle app showed I barely moved overnight.

Day 4 – Thursday (past the halfway mark)

After another long day of work (this is not a normal week, which makes the commitment even more meaningful), I had a ton of errands to run. Friday was going to easily be a 12+ hour workday and I had to purchase items to prepare.

I got home after 8:00 p.m. – again. I just wanted to curl up in bed and go to sleep. But that treadmill kept calling my name. I had to do it.

I hopped off the machine at 8:45 p.m. with the best walk/run of my week so far.

• Five-minute warm up
• Two-minute run
• Three-minute walk
• Repeat for 25 minutes
• Five-minute cool down

Dinner came at 9:00 p.m., and I made it to bed by midnight – prepared for a bitch of a Friday.

Day 5 – Friday

With six hours of sleep, I was sluggish going into the day. Then, as I was walking out the door, I got a notification on my watch that perked me up immediately. I just had three days left to reach my perfect week!

After a 14.5-hour work day, I had taken close to 8,000 steps (why couldn’t that be enough to close that pesky green ring?).

I made it home at 10:45 pm. The busy day helped me score 15 minutes of exercise on my ring. That meant I had 15 to go and an hour and 15 minutes to do it.

Let’s be honest – if it wasn’t Friday and I had to get up to go to work the next day, I likely would’ve given up and blamed it on work. But, I’m single. I have no children and no other responsibilities at home. I have no reason to wake up early on Saturday. I have no excuses.

This was the hardest night on the treadmill all week. Those 16 minutes of walking (yes, I could only muster up a walk) felt like 16 hours. By the time I stepped off the platform, I was spent.

But I was accomplished.

Day 6 – Saturday

I woke up sometime well after the sun was high in the sky. I was able to finally relax. But that green ring was still staring me in the face.

After finishing up some work leftover from Friday, I mustered up the energy and motivation to head back down to the gym at 8:00 p.m. (I’m not sure why, but that time seems to be working for me.)

Fun fact: even on a Saturday night in Dallas, you can find people in the gym.

I finally got back on the C25K program, which was a total beat down.

• Five-minute warm up
• 90-second run
• 90-second walk
• Three-minute run
• Three-minute walk
• Repeat
• Five-minute cool down

Something I didn’t take into account until this day: 30 minutes of exercise doesn’t automatically mean I’ve reached my “move” goal. I had to walk ten extra minutes to get that red ring.

Day 7 – Sunday

It’s FINALLY here! But, Sundays are usually reserved for writing, brunching and catching up with friends.

After brunching, shopping, driving, shopping and dinner, I had to make it happen. Just 30 more minutes to the promised-land!

With barbecue and beer sitting in my stomach like a cinder block, I made my way slothfully to the gym at 8:00 p.m. (I’ve grown to enjoy this specific time.)

One minute down… then ten… then 20… then – done!

Commitment isn’t a dirty word

While I still haven’t really lost any weight (see the sentence above about barbecue), that wasn’t really the point. I set small goals of finishing Week 1, then Week 2, then just getting back on the treadmill and having a perfect 3-ring week.

And if you’ve made it all the way to the end of this diary – you’ve accomplished a small goal. You didn’t give up on my story.

While I’m going to continue on this journey and setting new fitness goals for myself, my blogging about it will be less intense. It’s time for a new hobby. And, I have some blank space on my walls…