Today’s run: 3.2 miles, 34:21 minutes. YT: 158.51. Sunny and 30 degrees. I enjoyed the bracing temperature for once.
Today’s stats may not seem like a victory, but I nearly gave up at miles 1 and 2. I didn’t eat enough last night and therefore woke up with the energy of a hibernating bear. Eating breakfast did nothing to change that. But I said SCREW YOU BODY, I’M IN CHARGE HERE, PUT UP AND SHUT UP, and now am heading into my day with the attitude that I can do anything that I set my mind to. Sweet!
When in doubt, WORK OUT!
Today’s run: 57 min, 5.15 miles. YT: 17.80. Incredible skies and moon over West LA; the Hollywood Hills and San Gabriels were crisp, but lower to the ground Hollywood was in a thick yellow smog. I thought a lot about love on my run today. And about timing. Yes, timing is everything. But I deeply believe that for every opportunity you miss, there’s one you find.
* * *
No, it’s not always easy to pull yourself out of bed, especially in the winter darkness. The gremlins WILL natter in your ear: You’re tired, running is hard, it’s cold out, it’s going to be hard and unpleasant.
Here’s how to shut them up.
1. Fill your head with thoughts about how you’ll feel after the run: accomplished. Strong. Fitter. Joyful.
2. If that’s not enough, enlist help: Your iPod. Put your earphones on, right there in bed. Play a song that gets you moving.
3. If that still doesn’t work, try bargaining. Tell yourself, “You don’t have to go running, but you DO have to get up and put on your running clothes.” Then tell yourself you don’t have to run, you just have to walk.
Nine times out of ten, you’ll end up running.
Today’s run: 6.3 miles, 1:10. YT: 6.3 miles. Ran on the beach as far as the power plant at El Segundo. Sluggish at first but finished strong. Saw Kooky Groovy Lady, a leathery late 60s broad who moves down the path, headphones on, like she’s grooving at Woodstock. But awkwardly. She must “groove” every day, year round, because I think I’ve seen her every time I run there.
The more I read at DailyMile and elsewhere, the more I realize that in the big, bad world of running, 1000 miles ain’t nothin’ special. I’m feeling a perspective shift as I start to inhabit a world where people run a sub 4:00 marathon a month.
In any endeavor – athletic, creative, or otherwise – there’s always going to be someone doing it arguably bigger and better than you. And if you’re like me as a judge, you reactively give yourself a handicap. That’s why it’s important to stay focused in exploring your experience, without judgment. If nothing else, it’s unique to the world, and that’s something.
So: Keep doing. The doing is playful, animating, reaffirming. In passivity, we risk analyzing our best impulses to death.
