I was at the Opening Day festivities on campus where I work this week and ran into a friend who had just been announced as winning an award for her teaching excellence. As we met in a common area after the ceremony, I said, "Congratulations!" She replied with, "Congratulations to you..." (And, at this point, I'm thinking 'you have the wrong person---I didn't get an award...) "...on your commitment to fitness/wellness!" It caught me totally off-guard. As I was thanking her, I had to convince myself that she WAS talking about me. Why is that? I don't know if it was because I hadn't yet seen the value of my journey...or if I didn't feel it warranted such accolades. Whatever it was, since then, I've thought about it a lot. I DO deserve the congratulations, but more importantly, I deserve to be healthy and nobody is going to do it for me.
Which leads me to the next point I pondered while running today... Allow me some time to get to it...
We recently took a fishing vacation. It was only four days, but involved lots of portaging and physical work also combined with hours of sitting in one position in a tiny boat. And let's not mention all the junk we ate while there... It was a fabulously fun time with great friends, but as far from a running program as you can get, other than staying in bed all day. So, I knew that 'getting back on the horse' was not going to be easy. I gave myself a few days (okay--FIVE) to adjust back to the real world before resuming my walk-run plan where I had left off. I haven't been feeling great since returning, so have listened to my body and just did some walks in the days prior to this.
Today I decided that it was time to get back to it. I'm rested, hydrated, and I have time in my schedule. It was NOT easy to get out the door, because I knew it wasn't going to be a great 'performance'. Aaaaand, it most certainly lived down to that expectation. The dogs are out of practice ("Why can't I sniff THIS tree...and this one, and this one...?!"), I still wasn't feeling 100% physically (stomach/gut bug of some sort), and I had obviously lost some ground from what I gained endurance-wise before, so it was just physically more difficult.
As I was working through all of these challenges, I thought, "I'll just redo this workout until it gets better." Well, huh--That was easy... Why do we deny ourselves the option of a do-over? I'm as much a perfectionist as anyone (believe me--type A all the way and WAY too detail-oriented to let some things go), but what does it matter if I have to re-do this workout? I redo levels on stupid mindless puzzle games on my phone all the time. Why on earth wouldn't I give myself the same leeway when it comes to my health? Keep at it until you get it right--you owe yourself that because nobody else is going to hand it to you.
Which leads me to the next point I pondered while running today... Allow me some time to get to it...
We recently took a fishing vacation. It was only four days, but involved lots of portaging and physical work also combined with hours of sitting in one position in a tiny boat. And let's not mention all the junk we ate while there... It was a fabulously fun time with great friends, but as far from a running program as you can get, other than staying in bed all day. So, I knew that 'getting back on the horse' was not going to be easy. I gave myself a few days (okay--FIVE) to adjust back to the real world before resuming my walk-run plan where I had left off. I haven't been feeling great since returning, so have listened to my body and just did some walks in the days prior to this.
Today I decided that it was time to get back to it. I'm rested, hydrated, and I have time in my schedule. It was NOT easy to get out the door, because I knew it wasn't going to be a great 'performance'. Aaaaand, it most certainly lived down to that expectation. The dogs are out of practice ("Why can't I sniff THIS tree...and this one, and this one...?!"), I still wasn't feeling 100% physically (stomach/gut bug of some sort), and I had obviously lost some ground from what I gained endurance-wise before, so it was just physically more difficult.
As I was working through all of these challenges, I thought, "I'll just redo this workout until it gets better." Well, huh--That was easy... Why do we deny ourselves the option of a do-over? I'm as much a perfectionist as anyone (believe me--type A all the way and WAY too detail-oriented to let some things go), but what does it matter if I have to re-do this workout? I redo levels on stupid mindless puzzle games on my phone all the time. Why on earth wouldn't I give myself the same leeway when it comes to my health? Keep at it until you get it right--you owe yourself that because nobody else is going to hand it to you.
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