Finding herself halfway through the 100 Day Challenge, Jennifer Wills, The Royal Gazette's columnist finds exercising easier and more fun.

She struggled through setbacks from eating out to birthday parties, but finally after 50 days she has even encouraged her overweight dog to continue with a healthy lifestyle.

Thursday, February 28

I'm not a sporty person, however, my friend, Julie, has convinced Sara and I to join her on Thursday nights to play basketball.

Beyond shooting hoops in a friend's backyard as a kid and dating a basketball player in college, I haven't had much experience in the basketball department. However, this was supposed to be training for people who don't play.

I like the idea of doing the training since it feels like a disguised form of exercise. There ended up being about seven of us there with a variety of skill levels and I actually had fun!

I had expected to work up a good sweat tearing around the court but we worked more on the basics — getting used to the feel of the ball, dribbling and some shooting.

Not an aerobic workout but still a fun couple of hours. I'm actually looking forward to next week!

Friday, February 29

It's so nice now that it's lighter later in the evening. I'm much more inclined to go for a walk when I get home and it's still light out.

I had a good walk/jog tonight. I've started to set little goals along the way — run as far as the fire hydrant, run past the next five light poles, et cetera. I actually felt really good when I got home. So good that I split dessert with Luis when we went to dinner and got a raised eyebrow and a head shake from Perry.

Sunday, March 2

Walked the dogs out to the beach today. It was about a half-hour walk followed by an hour of frolicking in the surf — them not me, I'm not much of a frolicker — I spend my time searching for sticks to throw for them since they don't quite retrieve the sticks all the way back to the beach.

They drop the sticks about ten feet out in the water and then give me that head-cocked, quizzical look when I don't throw it again for them.

By the time we got back home and they had their baths they were wiped out and spent the rest of the day snoozing.

Monday, March 3

Met up with Marathon Melissa again tonight — two weeks in a row! I think I'm going to keep it up now and not bail out anymore. I feel like I've really turned a corner this week after my little pity party.

I'm feeling much more positive about the whole experience and the exercise sessions are feeling less torturous than before.