I went running on my lunch break.
It was in the mid-to-high 80s and sunny and my route from the office has no shade, and since this is my favorite kind of weather – said with about 100 gallons of sarcasm – I figured today would be a great day to get back at it following a hiatus of several months for No. Reason. Whatsoever.
I had run out of philosophical wisdom to offer myself. I’m a coach. I’m supposed to stay motivated. How dare I get lazy without an injury to justify it.
Last night I completely cleared my ipod shuffle (yep I still own one of those) and revamped it. Without really realizing it I kept focusing on the songs that would get me home from a long run. It didn’t really occur to me that I had loaded it up with 2 hours worth of get-me-home-fast songs and nothing to just cruise to.
You just try running easy to Welcome to the Jungle. When Axl told me I was going to die today, I believed him!
I run without music more than with it, but that may be subject to change. If you want to know the truth, knowing that I had revamped that ipod and each song was going to be a new surprise today helped get me out the door. Whatever it takes right?
Brandy Clark, you took me out the door too hard…but I went with it and turned my first run in months into a sufferfest. If one of my clients had done what I did today…well, let’s just say one of those clients, who is also one of my bosses, gave me the look I give her when I told her what I had done.
My excuse, I’m the boss in this arena and I needed to kick my own ass..”So you punished yourself?” she said.
“Well, yeah, but I’m good with it!”
Now I’m all about being kind to yourself and listening to you body and cutting yourself some slack. But let’s face it, sometimes you just need to kick yourself in the ass.
I had planned to get going again with Surry this weekend. But as I stood at the door this morning, bidding the pups goodbye, I wondered why I was going to wait. Just do this. Start on a Friday? Yes, because, why not?
So here we go…I’m not going to promise you a bunch of wisdom and inspiration on this journey right now, but I will promise to let you know how much this hurts, or doesn’t – I loved every sweaty, hot moment of today even when the return trip was relegated to a 1 minute run/30 secs walk rhythm for the final 10 minutes (of 30) because of my too-fast start.
My legs were stiff within the hour, but my spirits were up…
On today’s shuffle some songs that are great for running that you wouldn’t expect:
Brandy Clark – Girl Next Door
Jake Owen – You Ain’t Going Nowhere
Justin Timberlake/Chris Stapleton – Say Something (this is the one that I rode in on today).
surryssecondchance 