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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