Sunday, February 5, 2017

Dial It Back

Not gonna lie, Peeps. I'm exhausted.

This is one of those weeks where I haven't wanted to do anything, but I had to do everything. I didn't want to go to work (although this was one of the funnest weeks I had planned this year), I didn't want to come home from work, I didn't want to shuttle my kids around, I didn't want to shop for, plan, or prepare meals of any kind, and I CERTAINLY didn't want to run.

My motto for the week
Of course I DID do all of those things, including running, but it was a struggle every. damned. step. of. the. way. Normally, I love to run; I look forward to it, and even when I don't immediately love it, I'm always happy after the second mile.  Not this week.  It seemed like I spent every second trying to talk myself out of running. Of course I did the other workouts in my weekly routine: weights and strength training, yoga, Zumba--but I didn't even really want to do those either.

People often say to me, "I would love to run, but I don't have time." We all know this is bullshit. What you don't have is motivation to make time. My running time (and all workout time, really) has to happen around the needs of everyone in my house, so guess what? I run at 4:30 in the morning.  It wasn't easy for me to decide to run so early, and there were times I wanted to cheat and tell myself I'd get it done after work, but I pushed on. Now my morning workout time is a habit, so even if I want to skip it (and OH BOY did I want to skip it this week), my body goes on autopilot and gets out of bed before the alarm. Most days this sets me up for a fabulous, energetic workday (until about 3:00).

This is EXACTLY how I look when I set myself up for a fabulous, energetic workday.
Today, I am the gravedigger from  Hamlet.

Here I am excited to play Horatio. I kind of wanted  to be the king or queen so I could die.
Then I could just lay on the floor for a long time. It was not "to be." See what I did there? 😜
The point of this post is this: Sometimes you've got to fake it 'til you make it. . .and sometimes you just have to keep fakin' it.

Don't want to run on the dreadmill?  Me neither.  Let's dial it back together, like I did on Friday and Saturday. On Friday I couldn't bring myself to go down into the cold basement to run on the treadmill, even with the promise of the 9th season of Dr. Who on DVD, so I stayed in the living room and popped in a Leslie Sansone walking DVD. I ran while she walked and talked (boy, does she talk), and I carried 2 lb. weights while I ran around the living room. On Saturday, I allowed myself to walk the first and last mile of my treadmill run.  Both workouts were less than optimal, but at least I got it done.

Today, luckily, was a dial-back week in the long run, too.  Shelby, Joy, and I ran the Covered Bridge Loop, which is eight miles of really pretty scenery around Hale Farm and Village.  I took our traditional pics:

The church in the Valley at Hale Farm
Our Covered Bridge selfie
I thought the run would be a breeze, but it wasn't.  You know what? I still made that run my bitch.

Sometimes a run is hard, and sometimes ALL the runs are hard, but perserverance is a cool thing. I know that I will feel better (with some rest and maybe pizza and wine), so I'm going to look forward to the next run.  Join me.

Have you registered yet for an event in the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon series? Are you checking out the Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors' pages?  Who has a giveaway this week?  How is the training going for you?  Feel free to gloat comment about your awesome runs.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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