A Is For...Aerobic Exercise

1st A is for Arlee Bird who started this Challenge in 2010...He is the man...

Aerobic Exercise is what I like sometimes loathe to do...Aerobic literally means "living in air", and refers to the use of oxygen to adequately meet energy demands during exercise via aerobic metabolism. Let's have a little introduction first...shall we? I think we shall.

Some of you know me from the last couple of times I participated in this challenge...If you don't already know me, I'm Shannon, I Survived (cancer) and Now I Run...I started this blog after I survived cancer, mainly to proved to myself and my body that I was in charge not cancer, and that I was no longer going to allow myself to just exist. I wanted to really experience living the way it was meant to be experienced.  

So at 40 I started a Couch to 5k program and as they say, the rest is history. I have run 5k and 5 mile races and am now training for a half marathon (September 2013), it's also the same half I trained for last year, (I was up to 10 mile long runs) unfortunately I broke my pelvis and was off the entire summer and then some. I'm back now and determined to finish what I started.

All the above was a rather long introduction for my 1st topic in The A-Z Challenge for 2013. So here goes...


I'm a runner so I am used to needing, using and sometimes even gulping a lot of oxygen (Aerobic-living in air) to go from one point to the next and then all the way back to the start. It's normal for me to head out from my house to wherever and however far the road will take me, and that could be anywhere from 2-6 miles right now, to as high as 10 miles a month or so from now. If I can keep from getting injured again, knock on wood, fingers and toes crossed. 

Here are a few ways in which aerobic exercise can benefit a person.

1. People who exercise are less likely to get the flu.
2. Aerobic exercise releases tiny ninja-like endorphins which are the bodies natural painkillers which also helps to calm anxiety and stress.  (Running is how I stay sane)
3. Fat reduction. (Enough said)
4. Longer life...research by Harvard University revealed that for the first time there was a scientific link between increased life and exercise.
5. Better lungs...Aerobic exercise enhances the maximum oxygen consumption by the body.

Your SMART people so I won't mention all the beautiful scenery and wild life you will encounter, that is just what I like to call the icing on the cake. I live in Oregon and the scenery is Gorgeous and wild life...abundant.  It's normal for me to see deer, squirrels, geese (they are here year round) and ducks each time I go out for a run. (I have yet to run into a bear or mountain lion but I'm not really gonna complain.)

So get out there and move your body and see how good it feels. The endorphins are enough to convince me, I love those little (but oh so powerful) guys. Blessings and hugs!

Godspeed...this comes from the Middle English expression "God spede (you)", a wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an enterprise, voyage, adventure, or travels. It may also mean good luck.

"Limitations only exist if you let them" 

© 2013 Shannon M. King. This publication is the exclusive property of Shannon M. King and is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws. The contents of this post/story may not be reproduced as a whole or in part, by any means whatsoever, without consent of the author, Shannon M. King. All rights reserved.