BoomerGirl Diary

Need motivation to work out? Talk your spouse into joining you. Another common theme in these couples' comments? Working out together has strengthened their relationship. Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

• Jami and Michael Perusich are in the military — he's Navy, she's Air National Guard — and are authorized three one-hour workout periods a week. They both have to pass annual physical fitness tests, so biking, running and strengthening together is a great way to share time and stay prepared. Plus, "since he's my husband, I can't dodge his phone calls or go to a meeting at workout time!"

• Terry Richards says exercising with her husband, Doug, means they have more time together — something often in short supply. They go to 5:30 or 6 a.m. classes at a local health club. "That way there's no room for excuses at the end of the day." She says seeing him get up is motivation: "I don't want him telling everyone in class I'm still in bed!"

• Gayle and Steve Seibel are training for a 60-mile, three-day walk for breast cancer. They walk on sand and gravel roads, which gives them benefits that a treadmill or street doesn't, she says. The Seibels train four to five days a week, after work. It's their time to talk "about anything and everything. Even though we have been married for 35 years in May, the marathon walking is the best marriage counseling any couple can hope to have!"

• Early birds Dwain and Sandi Mathis are at the local YMCA when it opens every morning at 5 a.m. Sandi says she's the one who makes sure they get up and moving. "My husband is the go-getter once we get to the gym. He is the one who pushes me for that one more set." And there's no better reward, she says, than to hear him say at the end of the workout, "You did good today. Good work."

• Until he retired recently, Terry Snyder worked second shift. His wife, Tammy, worked first. So he'd pick her up at lunchtime five days a week and they'd go to the YMCA together. "That was the only time we saw each other all week," she says. She's still working — and they're still sharing their noontime workouts.

• Scott and Amy Bryan are training for the Spring Migration Triathlon in Emporia, Kan., later this month, so five days a week they bike, swim or run. Usually, they work out first thing in the morning, "because if we don't do it then, life comes at you quick," Scott says. Having the same goal and the same fitness level makes it easy to motivate each other. And they're setting an example for their four children.

• Gerald and Leslye Woodard signed up for boot camp classes as "one of those impulse sort of deals," she says. It wasn't completely an impulse: Gerald had back problems and thought it might help, and they both decided that being in their early 40s it was about time to get in shape. That was in October — and they're still going at 5:30 a.m. four days a week. "It's easier to get up when you have someone else to get up with," Leslye says of the early hour.

• Amy Conkling says she and her husband, Jack, were athletes in high school and went to the gym together while they were dating. They still go running or to the gym at 5:15 every morning. They ran their first marathon in October. "I looked forward to Friday or Saturday mornings... Those were our long run days and we were able to talk about life, work, future plans (children) and much more in those couple of hours pounding the pavement together."