I (heart) Pilates

I (heart) Pilatesand Noble one day, and the words CLEARANCE caught my eye. Always up for a good deal, I walked over and picked up a book...or what should be known as THE book.ALl it said was "Pilates" with the picture of a girl doing the plank on the cover. I picked it up, looked at the price ($9.98 not counting my Barnes and Noble membership discount) and thought, "Why not?"And I am so, so happy that I did!It's what has gotten me to the gym (almost) every day, and I can already tell that it is making a difference. I can hold the plank, my ab work moves are getting better, and even my running has gotten stronger (I got back on track with a new training plan...but that is for another blog. I don't want to take any of the attention away from pilates!)I love pilates so much that I did it one time in the middle of a square in downtown Savannah after a long, hot run. It was just something I really wanted to do. Where I go, the book goes.And I'm not kidding when I say it has helped me get to the gym. It is such a nice way to start out any workout - cardio or strength - with the stretching and the ab work and the leg work...and these are some arm moves thrown in as well. There are three workouts that you progress through, and I am hanging steady in the first one. I have tried the second one a couple of times, but I am just not there yet. One of my goals for my next marathon is to make sure that I don't concentrate everything on running - to be really successful, you have to concentrate on every part of your body. And pilates, my new love, is one way that I am ensuring I am on the right track!