Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Plan A, no Plan B, ok.... Plan C

All runners go through this at some point:  Get up and out for a modest run before the day gets started and the sun gets things too hot.  That’s the plan -  no waivering.  Except that energy levels are really low, and I mean really low. It’s been a tough week, lots of miles, the house kind of has a lazy feel about it, and the resolve to get out for a run is crumbling. 

So Plan B begins to form in your mind… How about taking a “rest day”? After all, you deserve it, and your body will no doubt appreciate it. It’s a nice warm day, perfect for floating in the pool with a cool drink and a book.  Plan B sounds really good! Oh, and a sandwich. Something tasty and juicy. Key on tasty. Ohhhh yeahhhhh.

But then you remember your resolve to run… The sandwich sounds good, but then the guilt thing comes in, like maybe you should “earn” it first… So after pondering all of this for a while (and the sun continuing to rise along with the temperature) you finally decide on Plan C:  do a run, a couple of miles at least, and then follow it up with a guilt-free sandwich while floating in the pool with a book. But for the love of all that is good, get out there!  (remember it’s all about “showing up”….)_

That was me yesterday – I really struggled to get out for my run. All of my household members were being lazy and proud of it and I was getting sucked into their very comfortable aura. The day was beautiful: a clear, hot, Florida day. The allure of floating in my pool with a book and cool drink was intoxicating.

But what got me over the edge was two things:  I was hungry and I didn’t want to eat anything without having burned some c’s first (I don’t always feel this way, but I did yesterday) and secondly and most importantly, my insistence on “showing up!”.

As it was, I chugged out 6 miles in brutal heat. I started on the asphalt road but the heat from the road was getting to me, so I drifted to the cement sidewalk where there was some shade, and then tried to run whenever possible in the grass because it was so much cooler than the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the grass here is so thick that it is hard to run in – it’s like running through a sponge; I have to literally lift my knees up so that my foot can clear the sod – it really screws up my gait!


Nonetheless I did it, plopped into my pool afterwards, and thoroughly enjoyed a sandwich and cool drinks. Ahhh… oh yeah, now we’re talking!  I showed up, I did my best, and I felt great for having made the effort.

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