It’s hard to do sometimes, especially when you plan on doing a lot of sight seeing. Getting exercise in during a vacation can be a low-priority, but it’s something that you have to keep up with. There are several reasons I’ve been adamant about exercising on vacation.

1. My journey to living better through good health and fitness doesn’t get put on hold on vacation. I need to continue to be vigilant to ensure I don’t get into any bad habits that would hold over after the vacation ends.
2. I need to keep my running going because as a National Guard soldier, I will be expected to be just as fit when I get back from vacation as I was when I left for it.
3. I am eating more food while on vacation, and some of it is non-Paleo. While we’re walking 2-3 times as much as we normally would be at home as well as trying to eat as Paleo-friendly as we can, we are not skipping some of the unique foods that Spain has to offer (I’m looking at you, Paella!). That means we need to keep the fitness up to augment our good eating to keep the weight down.
4. It is stress relief, plain and simple. I went a week without running (the first week here) and I felt my stress melt away on my first run since being in Spain. It really does help center me and clear my mind.

I know most people see exercise as something that has to be done only grudgingly,  but once you learn to embrace it (or, trick yourself into it like I did by faking to like exercise until you have convinced yourself that you actually do like it!), it gets a lot easier.