I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK

Today was my second straight day of working a 13 hour shift.  That makes it a little more difficult to get in some exercise.  I often times have thought that I will get in a run when I get home from work at night.  At least that's the justification that I use after hitting my snooze five times in the morning, instead of getting out and running.  But who wants to go running after standing on your feet for 13 hours, and it's dark outside?

Today, I only hit the snooze once!  Getting up at 5:30 is not my favorite thing to do.  About the only time I will even consider it is if I am going hunting or fishing.  Do I need to paint a picture of how fun it was to be getting up to go running?  Yes. OK.  Picture Heidi laying in bed under the warm blankets,  the cold morning air is coming through the open window, no light, only darkness.  I had really weird dreams, REALLY weird, that kept me from sleeping very good.  Why would I leave this to go outside and see how miserable I could make myself?  Well, because if I didn't, what would I write about?  I did it for you.  Thank you for helping me Win The Day!

Did I mention that it was dark outside?  Is this really the way to convince yourself that running is fun?

     


I had an hour before I needed to start getting ready for work.  What would be a good goal for this run?  The obvious goal is to finish without having a heart attack, or passing out from exaustion and being found by a fellow runner.  The goal I set was to run 5 miles during that hour.  (remember that I am a 230+ pound man that hates to run)  Off I went into the darkness.

Something funny happened during my run.  I started to enjoy myself.  I started having some unexpected thoughts flash through my mind.  "This isn't so bad after all", I thought.  "Maybe my body is starting to get used to being miserable".  "Am I too old to try out for the Olympic Games?"  Running in the early morning darkness wasn't scary at all.  In fact, I might start doing all my runs in the dark.  It does have some advantages:

• It's dark (duh):  When it's dark outside nobody really sees the fat man suffering.  Nobody sees just how slow I am moving, or that look on my face.  You know that look that says you are working a lot harder than what your body is producing.  No passing cars have little kids in them that laugh at you until their mom makes them stop.  Dark is good.
• You can't see any landmarks:  How is this an advantage?  Well, the roads I was running on this morning have some long stretches of nothing.  This can sometimes make it seem like you aren't getting anywhere.  That telephone pole in the distance just doesn't seem to get any closer.  In my case, maybe it doesn't.  It can sometimes feel like I am running and running but getting nowhere.  But in the darkness, I can't tell how slow I am running, and soon smack into the pole.  Dark is good.
• It's harder to become distracted:  If you can't see anything around you, you don't get distracted.  This allows me to be alone with my thoughts.  I found that I wasn't having a lot of random thoughts.  I could keep thinking about the same things without interruption.  Something about exercise that just opens ones mind.  I enjoy the talks I have with myself while cycling and to a smaller extent, running.  I still mostly just keep thinking, "this sucks" over and over while I'm running.  Dark is good.
• It allows me to be "that guy":  If you ever find yourself driving down the road at 5:30 in the morning and you pass someone that is running, what do you think?  If you're like me, probably one of two things; "that guy" is crazy, or, I wish I could get myself out of bed to run in the morning like "that guy".  This morning, I was "that guy".  Dark is good.

I run with the nike+ program on my ipod.  Those of you that have, know that the little voice comes on every now and then to keep you informed of how you are doing on your goal for that run.  I usually set my goal to be how long I want to run for.  So my coach broke into my song to tell me I had five minutes left to reach my goal, 60 minutes.  Looking down at my Garmin watch, I could see that I wasn't going to get to my goal of 5 miles in that time.  Or was I?  It was just like in the movies.  The only thing missing was the song from Chariots of Fire.  From somewhere in the darkness my legs found an extra gear of youth.  I pushed it as hard as I could those last 5 minutes, and ....failed in my goal.  It took me about an extra 10 seconds before I registered 5 miles.  As I walked the last little bit to the house, cooling down, committing myself to push a little harder next time, something unexpected happened.  Out of the fading darkness, Tiger Woods talked to me through my earphones.  "This is Tiger Woods, congratulations on running your fastest mile today".  Thanks Tiger.  Dark is good.



Randi's Health Tips:

• Do something active EVERYDAY! (win the day)  Even if you just walk around the block a few times or climb a set of stairs a few times.  Make sure you are moving and include your kids or other family members!
• Eating healthy and losing weight is not going to happen overnight.  You must take it one day at a time and make a commitment to change you eating habits.  Eventually it will just become a lifestyle, just like the unhealthy one you may be living right now.
• Eating healthy does not have to add a lot of money to your grocery bill.  But if you do find it costs more consider the benefits of eating healthy.  You will spend less money on doctor bills by boosting your immunity with healthy foods and weight loss.  Also, being sick costs you time and money!  Your time is valuable - don't spend it in bed sick!