Nurturing My Inner... Kenyan

It is 95 degrees out today.  100 with the heat index.  That means it's HAAAAAHHHHTTT!!  And I thought, "Hey, I think I'll go for a run."  Perhaps I should have thought, "Hey, I'll go for a Popsicle." or "Hey, I'll go for a dip in the pool." or a personal fav, "Hey, I'll go for a bowl of ice cream."  I've found over the years it's way too easy for me to make excuses to get out of exercise when I want to.  This hurts.  That hurts.  This AND that hurts.  Let's be honest, something always hurts.  And once you pass thirty... forget it.  But I have more excuses - it's too hot out, too cold out, too early, looks like it might rain, I'm tired, I worked too hard today, I don't have time, I'll go tomorrow...  When it comes to getting back on track, I have to use a heavy hand with myself and institute a no excuses policy.  Be my own personal drill Sargent.  If there is a tornado or flash flooding like last Thursday, then okay.  That's really legit and potentially dangerous.  But 97% of what I come up with isn't.  Creative perhaps, but dignified, no.

It's not like I'm a new runner.  Though, I only started running five years ago.  I get out there a few times a week, walk other days, I properly hydrated all day today and I know my own limitations.  Heck, if the Kenyans can do it, so can I.  Never mind that I weigh as much as two Kenyans and while they have years of logging dozens of practice miles a day, I have been practicing sitting on my duff in a cube for nine hours a day at a desk job.  I still remained undeterred.  I pressed on.  I donned my cutest shorts.  With motivational music on my mp3 player, a water bottle in my pack and the knowledge that I was planning on writing about this later to be read by who knows who, I set forth into the wilderness.  While the Kenyans pass by gazelles and giraffes, I saw a big buck and two does.  And as they trot by tigers and lions, I chugged by a man walking his overly fluffy dog.  I know, almost exactly the same, right?  It's eerie.

Two miles later, I'm happy to say I did it!  (And I did get one, "Yow!  Lookin' good!" and another unrepeatable primal cacophony from some male passerbyers in trucks that I will choose to believe were well intended.)  I won't be breaking any land speed records this week or robbing professionals of a gold medal, but I didn't take the easy way out.  Not this time.  And although I passed perfectly perfumed girls in sport's bras that showed off their six packs and easy-breathing agile men pushing two seater baby strollers uphill as if they were running unencumbered, I didn't get discouraged by my slower and more labored gate.  I kept my inner Kenyan eyes on the prize.  Which was two-fold:

1.) A little rest on my favorite dock by the lake close to sunset.

My faithful Brooks that I call Lewis & Clark.

2.) A glass of ice cold, low cal, fat free coconut water.

I like VitaCoco original best, but it comes in other flavors.

Now that's the AAHHHH! I was looking for.  I came from a family who taught me inadvertently to reward myself with high calorie, wonderfully tasty treats.  As a total foodie, I kind of liked that program.  But it has had its consequences.  Just ask my jeans.  I've had to change my thinking.  My reward program has been retooled and now involves stops by the lake to see what wildlife might show up, watered down cranberry juice or coconut water and as a friend of mine once suggested, downloading a song.  Why would I want to undo all my hard work by adding back in all the high calorie stuff I was trying to work off in the first place!!  Note the futility in ignoring that basic principle.

I did also happen to indulge my inner granddaughter again for a few minutes by running through someone's sprinkler on the way home like we used to do in the summer as kids.  Hey, I told you the many sides of me can show up at any time.  I'm a chick.  We're complex.

Don't give up!  Keep working at it.  You have it inside you to make today the day you stop making excuses and push ahead on the path to success.