I'm not an athlete. I'm not a health nut either. But, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm getting older and I can't eat fries, donuts, burgers, and ramen without working out to balance it all out.
This year, I checked off something on my bucket list: running a half marathon — I'm not crazy enough to run a FULL 26.2 miles yet!
Yes I trained 3 months before the race and went from barely going to the gym once a week to running at least 3 miles, 5x a week. My running confidence grew along with my calves. I also became more conscious about what I ate, and getting enough sleep. This was around the time I got my Jawbone UP2 fitness tracker.
Cool things about the Jawbone UP?
1. Battery Life - YES. I'm super forgetful and will never remember to charge my devices, let alone something so small, but I didn't have to worry about charging the band every other night. It lasts about 10 days straight on it's battery.
2. Size - it's small and super light that I barely feel it. Also doesn't stick out too much from my wrist.
3. Awesome App - it's not boring. Easy to use, shows my progress (or when I'm slacking), and it tells me fun facts about myself that I didn't know about! Like "when [I] get an extra 30m of sleep, [I] take about 262 more steps." — yeah, I know it's not that much, but hey, cool info anyway.
So now that I finished my race and I'm honestly not running as much, the Jawbone UP has kinda trained me to get "steps" in everyday. So I'll take the stairs instead of the escalator, walk around an extra block, or you know, walk to the farther ice cream shop (haha).
But the one thing that gets the most steps in for me is when I go out to shoot. Luckily, here in San Francisco, there are many amazing locations to get a great photo. And, a lot of them have nice little hiking trails. Bernal Heights is a local photographer's favorite. So is Sutro Baths and Fort Funston just to name a few.
Btw, the Jawbone UP app also has an option to track the food you eat so that you can reach your fitness goal. But I always get wayyy too excited to eat that I forget to input my meals. I just make sure that I at least get my average steps in per day.
One thing that I do have to work on, according to my "Smart Coach" is getting enough sleep. I've always has my creative bursts late at night. If you're anything like me, that's a habit that's a little bit harder to break.
If you want to check out the Jawbone UP trackers, learn more HERE.
*Sponsored post. Thanks to the awesome folks at Jawbone UP, I finally found a fitness tracker that I actually like. All thoughts, opinions, and experiences about the Jawbone UP2 are my own and I would totally recommend it to any of my friends regardless.
PHOTOS BY: Matt Maniego | Location: Bernal Heights Summit
