Exercise habit

The first time I lost any significant amount of weight and kept it off was my freshman year of college.  I joined the crew team at school and got to wake up every morning at around 4:30 am to get 2-3 hours of exercise before the day began. 

I enjoyed crew, and the weight came off easily, even with the occasional late night pizza runs, and all you can eat style at school.

I think one of the reasons for this was because with my early morning crew, and my late night musical rehearsals, I preferred sleep during the day to eating, and would often forget to eat.  I think this led to a more intuitive style of eating, where I ate when I was hungry. 

Since then, I get on exercise kicks, where its easy for me to exercise daily and I enjoy it.  Then I go through periods where I don't get any high intensity exercise at all, and it becomes very difficult to get back into the habit of it.  This isn't to say that I don't get any exercise at all.  One of the very best parts about having a dog is that he gets me up at least 3 times a day to go for walks, and since the weather has been beautiful, I have probably been walking at least 3 miles a day with him.  

Honestly who could say no to that face?

I know exercise isn't the key to losing weight, but I do know that it is key to increasing energy, making me feel strong, and is, I believe, one of the cornerstones of health and happiness. 

So yesterday, after doing 30 minutes of Jillian's Body Revolution and feeling fantastic about it, I spent a good amount of time researching 5k's in the greater Washington, DC area.  After ambling for 13.1 miles, I want to see if in 4-6 weeks I can really take my time down for only 3.1

I still haven't made a decision, a lot of them are pretty expensive for only a 5k.

However, I am certain I want to set up a training and exercise schedule for myself and see how closely I can stick to it, and see how fast I can do a 5k.

Does anybody have any races they are doing in the area this summer?