Monday, November 11, 2013

November 11th: Just Keep Going

Sorry I missed everyone on Friday. I went to the gym that day, and this morning I did a tempo 5K. The weekend was largely exercise-free, except for raking leaves, bringing them to the street and sort of mowing the lawn. Let’s get caught up.

I think the theme of today’s entry -- especially on Veterans Day -- is perspective and perseverance.

On Friday, I had a fairly unremarkable strength-training session at WOW. Nothing wrong, just not worth recounting in detail. But I ran into my friend’s wife Allison, who I see occasionally at WOW. Usually I try not to bother her, because she always looks like she’s in the zone. But I did get to say hello, and modest person that she is, she of course downplayed her efforts. “I’m never here this early… I couldn’t run as far as you do…”

The thing is, Allison is often there that early, and she’s always working hard. I have no doubt she could do a half-marathon with not a lot of training. But Allison inspires me to work a bit harder because she’s a cancer survivor. She’s had to deal with chemo and all the other bad stuff that comes with it, all while keeping her household going, her kids happy and healthy, and her marriage strong. It would be very easy for her not to worry about the stair-climber or the treadmill or the weight machines. It would be totally understandable. And as I mentioned, to hear her tell it, she really doesn’t work out that hard -- except she really does. That reminds me that I can keep going, too. I can get up and get to the gym. I can do that extra set. I can run that extra mile. If Allison can do it -- and she’s in great shape -- I certainly can.

Today, I decided to go for a run. It was pretty cold -- 40 degrees -- and I was kind of tired. It was definitely the kind of morning that makes it easy to make excuses and not get going. And I’ll be honest: I love running, but today, I hated every minute of it. I never did really get warm. The dog was constantly pulling at the leash. (It didn’t help that the squirrels are going nuts today, which I take as a strong indicator of snow on the way.) From the first tenth of a mile or so, all I wanted was for this run to be over. The main reason I went for a tempo run is because I just wanted it to be done.

But these are the kinds of runs that are actually true successes. As I said, today is Veterans Day. As everyone does, I know many people who’ve served our great nation. Even those vets who never saw actual combat have sacrificed more an endured more than the rest of us can understand. You know what? If those people can do all that, I can run 3.1 damn miles. Vets put it all on the line for us, and you never hear them make a big fuss about it. So yeah, I can go run in 40 degrees and not bellyache about it. Seriously. First world problems.

It wasn’t a 5K PR, but it was a very respectable pace, around 26 minutes. I am going to have to figure out a way to get my armband over my sweatshirt, because I’m spending a lot of time futzing with MapMyRun and getting the phone back into the armband. (More first world problems, I know.) I definitely need to do more speed work, because I was pretty winded at the end. But the bottom line: It’s good to get it done when everything inside you is saying, “I don’t wanna.”

So that’s my feeling for today. Running, working out, lifting weights, etc. -- it’s not easy. But there are a lot of people who’ve persevered through a lot, lot, lot more. And those people inspire me to do my best. So thank you, Allison, and thank you, vets.


Total miles since starting the blog: 125.4.

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