Monday, August 22, 2011

It's the Journey that Matters Most

"Every day is a good day when you run." -Kevin Nelson

I'm sorry Mr. Nelson, but I think I'm going to have to disagree with you. I think in most cases (for most situations in life), there will be good days and there will be a few bad ones sprinkled in so that you really appreciate the good days. This is exactly how I feel about my running "journey."

Today I did things out of turn from the usual. 1) I ran today which is not on the schedule as Mondays are supposed to be rest days 2) I didn't run in the early AM like I've been doing on my short runs with AK Tuesday through Thursday and 3) I did my workout BEFORE I ran... big mistake apparently.

I completed a total of 5.4 miles today but 0.75 of that was on a treadmill because I needed to calibrate my Nike sportsband. Apparently it thinks that I run a little faster and little further than what I actually do, so I had to test it and compare the treadmill's info to the sportsband and it turns out that I have been running those 4.8 and 3.5 mile distances; well almost. The sportsband is only off by 0.02 miles which is fine by me. It may not be the most accurate device but it pretty d*mn close and it's relatively inexpensive; a mere $39.99. Anywho, I digress (yet again).

Oh yeah, the good days versus the bad ones. Up until now I hadn't experienced a "bad day." In fact I felt SO incredibly awesome on Saturday after doing 4.8 miles, that I felt that I could have probably done even more. Today on the other hand, I just wanted our run to be OVER! Truth be told, if I wasn't running with lil AK, who is all about finishing what we started, I would have turned around and went home a looooong time ago. My body felt tired, both of my knees (not just the tricky left one that bothers me from a old dance injury) were KILLING me and honestly, I don't really know how I was still running. My usual words of encouragement, you know the "just keep pushing," even seemed to somewhat fail me. I wanted out. I wanted to stop, call it quits but I could never bring myself to say it out loud, although my mind was screaming it over and over again.

Although, I feel pretty crappy, you gotta finish what you started and AK was trying to be encouraging as well. At one point she even told me to think about what I was going to eat afterwards, in order to take my mind off of running. For those who know me, you know that whenever I work out, I have this habit of daydreaming about what I'm going to eat after my workout is completed. I don't know why this happens but 9.5 times out of 10, you can bet that floating around in my mind are thoughts of food. However, in this case not even the thoughts of my post-run meal nor my words of encouragement were satisfying enough... hence why I call today a "bad day." Having this "bad day," has made me appreciate all of the good and sometimes "great days" that I've had thus far though. One little blip isn't going to stop me. November 12th, it's on and I'm taking what's mine... The sense of accomplishment, the 13.1 magnet that I plan on slapping on the G35 and self-satisfaction knowing that I finished what I started.

A new/old friend of mine commented on my Facebok wall after I made a status about my no so fun run today and said, "It's more of a journey than a destination. I promise that you will look back on 6 miles as a "easy" run in a few months." I look forward to the day that I can call 6 miles an "easy" run and I know that, that day will come soon. Just gotta keep pushing and try my best to enjoy this journey of mine.

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