Just Do It

After leaving work today, I was pretty tired.  On the way home, I started debating whether I should do a workout or not.  I had skipped yesterday for the same reason I was debating skipping today.  Even though I've learned over and over again that doing a workout makes you feel far better after than not doing one at all, my mind still wants to take the easy way out.  It's a constant battle, but one that gets easier and easier to make the more fit I get.  Each run feels less and less like a workout and more like a scramble through the trail bouncing off rocks and just having fun.  With each step, each incline, each downhill, I notice the previous workouts, the swimming, the lifting all helping me along the way.

So when I got home, I sacked out for a bit but then got my stuff together after a short while and drove to Kent.  I got to the rec center in my running clothes and took off for a 4 mile loop around campus.  This loop has a nice mix of hills and flats.  usually I'd rather run trails, but when school's in session, the activity across campus always makes the run go by fast.  When I got back, I was drenched in sweat despite the cool day.  I'd gone out faster than I planned, but that wasn't surprising since I was running on concrete sidewalk and by myself.

I stretched a bit then went inside to lift some with my legs.  I did my regular routine of leg presses and curls as well as the ab machine.  Following that, I got my suit on and swam half a mile in the pool.  My kick felt stronger and more consistent than it had in the past and made the laps go by quicker and easier. 

I'm looking forward to the challenges and possibilities that await, running-wise.  I can't remember exactly when doing a seemingly impossible feat became possible mentally, but I have a feeling the seed was planted with going to my dad's marathons as a kid.  From there, the biggest challenges were initially being able to run a mile or two, then further down the road, maturing physically and being able to handle the runs I wanted to do.  As far back as I can remember, I never thought that a half-marathon, marathon, 50K, 50 miler, 100K, 100 miler or whatever the distance seemed impossible.  Just something that might not be possible at the present time.  The body can do far more than what the mind thinks it can do.  It often makes me wonder what percentage of my physical ability I'm using, or what anyone's using.  I can say very few times, if at all, that I've given it everything....EVERYTHING....I've got.  As nice as it is to think you gave it everything, there always is that little more you can squeeze out of a race or run.  usually you can defy the mind for so long before you give in, whether it's at the last 10 miles, mile or 100 meters of a race.  The "giving in" used to be more important to overcome during the race, but now, to me, it's more important during the moments after leaving work and deciding to do a training workout.  When not giving in becomes a habit during training, it'll make you that much stronger on race day to not give in when it hurts.

So that's my rant for the night.  I haven't been posting as frequently as in the past, but haven't felt the need to as much as in the past.  Before, it was a good motivator to keep up with my training schedule.  Now, my running log seems to do that just fine.  I still enjoy throwing random thoughts out here, though, as well as all of the races and bigger training runs I do, as a record to look back on.