Monday, May 23, 2011

...annnnnd she's off!

Sometimes I am amazed at my resistance to change, and how predictable that can be.

Last night I laid out my new walking/running clothes, knowing that if they weren't all ready to go, that would be my excuse for not going this morning. With my brain at half-mast, it doesn't take much talking to persuade me to stay in bed. So I got it all out: outfit, shoes, water backpack thingy. I set the alarm for the horrifying hour of 5:30. The thing is, I already have a morning quiet time which is a non-negotiable in my life; anything I do in the morning has to be “in addition to” and not “instead of.” Starting at 5:30 will still mean cutting into some of that quiet time, but I think it's a compromise that should work.

Per usual lately, I stayed up kind of late and then didn't sleep very well due to leg pain. I'm beginning to think leg pain is not going to go away for more than a few nights at a time. So 5:30 felt beastly when the alarm went off. I hit snooze. I listened, half asleep, to the noise coming in the window. Per usual, all I could hear was the rush of cars on Lake Shore Drive. No way to tell if rain was mingled in with that or not. My half-asleep brain said I shouldn't chance it, and should stay in bed.

So when the second alarm went off a couple of minutes later, I hit snooze again. I laid there a minute, arguing with myself, and finally decided I would just go to the window and look out. Mind you, nothing can be told about outdoors by looking out my window (which just stares at a nearby wall), but my morning brain wasn't smart enough to remember that, and thus was tricked into getting up. Once I was up, it wasn't so hard to brush my teeth, put up the pony tail, pull on clothes, stretch a bit, and hustle out the door before I could change my mind. I was on the sidewalk by 5:52.

Thus begins my new walking/running routine. The morning is gorgeous. I was glad to be out in it as soon as I cleared the doorway. Here's what I did today:

Walked to the Lake (took I think 6 minutes), picking up speed and lengthening strides as I went.

Walked 3 minutes. Jogged 1 minute.

Walked 3 minutes. Jogged 1 minute.

Walked 3 minutes. Jogged 1 minute.

Turned back toward home.
Walked 3 minutes. Jogged 1 minute.

Walked 3 minutes. Jogged 1 minute.

Walked back to the house (took I think 5 minutes.)

Used the stairs to get back up to my room. Stairs (the first set seem to be a story and a half, at which my mind always protests), 2nd story hall, more stairs, 4th story hall, and then stairs up to my 6th floor room. Having tried this tactic yesterday, I knew the lady who told me about it was right...getting off to walk the hall every few floors makes the 6 stories much more do-able.

Showered, letting my hair dry while I do my blog and quiet time (and of course the internet doesn't seem to be working, so I'm guessing this is getting posted later today.)

Hey, I'm started! YAY! It might seem like a small beginning, but I'm trying to do this in a way that is sustainable, and starting in a blaze of glory has generally always ended for me in quitting. Let's see how this goes. Meanwhile, I gotta focus: this is still about following God along the path of learning to love my body. Gotta avoid falling into the “rah, rah, rah” self-motivation plan.

Gotta let Him drive.





2 comments:

  1. I just started running a few weeks ago. Some days I love it - others I hate. I've decided to call it 'practicing' running so that way no one gets me confused with actually knowing what I'm doing.

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  2. LOL yeah I hear you on that, Sarah! One of the things I love about being on the path out by the Lake is it's really clear everyone there has different levels of knowledge and fitness...and nobody seems interested in having an opinion about anyone else's style, etc. So it's okay not to know what I'm doing!

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