Every Wednesday, the Deb from Deb Runs will be providing a word about which to blog. Kind of like a nice little blog prompt. Posts can be fitness or health related, but don’t have to be, so really anyone can play along. Just be sure to link up with InLinkz on Deb’s main post, and share the love by reading and commenting on other’s participant’s posts.

This week’s Word is ACCOUNTABILITY

According to the dictionary:

Accountability means taking responsibility for something that you are supposed to do.

At work, I am accountable to a lot of people.  If I don’t do what I am supposed to do, there may be repercussions that affect people besides myself.

At home, it may be shopping, cleaning up, laundry etc.  If I don’t do them, we just don’t eat and have no clean clothes. No big deal.  Lucky for me, my hubby is very easy going about most things.

But for running, I am accountable to myself.

If I do NOT run regularly, then I run and get injured, I should hold myself accountable.

Most importantly, if I don’t run regularly or enough miles, when it comes to running a race, I won’t be happy with my results.

So how do I stay accountable?

• Set goals and share them. I have goals for each race, each week, for each month, for each year. I post these on my blog.  I thinks it helps me be accountable.

• Be realistic about your running.

I know that I don’t have the time to run everyday.  And for my feet, it would not be a good idea. I know that when I run alone, my  pace is slow and I walk a lot.  I also know that at my age, PRing is not going to happen often (or maybe never.)

• Join a running group or find a running partner.

With a group, I have a time, place and people to run with. It also adds specific workouts to my schedule.

If you arrange to meet someone to run with, you show up and complete the distance.  Voila accountability.

• Put it on your calendar.

When you work and have a busy life, running may get ignored, skipped or forgotten. I put my runs on my calendars (yup several of them – wall, work computer, iphone, etc.)

• Make running a priority.

That means sometimes saying no to an invitation because you have to run. That means rearranging vacations, events around your race or running schedule.  You obviously have to have an understanding family and friends.

• Always be prepared to run.

I have running shoes and clothes in my car.  I never know when my schedule may change and I will be able to run. I also always bring running stuff with me when I travel.

Happy Running! How do you stay accountable?