Photo: Michelle Kowalski

A friend of mine and I were emailing today. I was telling her how tired I was, and that even though I was up until almost midnight last night because of a wicked storm that blew through rather quickly I still got up at 5:30 a.m. to walk.

I don't really know what my motivation is lately, but I'm not questioning it, I told her.

This wasn't the first time I had thought about what my motivation was. For the last almost three months I've made a conscious effort to walk most days of the week. There were some weeks when I couldn't walk at all because I was having serious issues with Byetta and severely elevated blood sugar, but since I ditched the Byetta, I've been able to walk at least five days a week.

I'm, frankly, pretty proud of myself. This is the first time in a long time that I've made this much effort to stick to an exercise routine. There have been more nights than I can remember when I've said to myself that it's just too late to get up so early in the morning for a walk, but wind up getting out of bed anyway. Ditto for mornings when my alarm blasts me awake.

I have 30 minutes every morning, outside in the brisk fall air to contemplate what my motivation is. I honestly don't know what it is. I don't feel like I have to force myself out of bed in the mornings, I don't dread getting up, I feel slightly guilty when I don't or can't go one day and I feel so wonderful when I'm done.

I've been thinking lately that I need to extend my walk time. Maybe my motivation is that I'm enjoying myself. What's yours?