Day 4 - Support system is needed, indeed.

This morning I had the perfect recipe for failure.  Last night, my little sister in-law (Kyla), brother in-law (Gabe) and his lovely girlfriend (Julie) were playing Minecraft.  I've never played Minecraft before, and personally I always had some personal grudge against the game for no good reason.  So I decided to give it a go and it was a good chance to spend some time with Kyla, who is always very shy around me.  I have to say that it was a lot more fun than I ever could have expected.  First off the game is pretty cool, and secondly I got to spend some quality time with my family.  So that was awesome!  The downside is that it kept me up until almost 1:00 A.M  and according to my running schedule, I am due to wake up at 5:00 A.M.    As you can imagine, that didn't happen and I got up late.  The second part of this perfect recipe is what I call dead-head.  This is where for the next 35 minutes,  I'm walking around my room like a zombie looking for brains.  Let me tell you, this morning, I couldn't find any.   I finally got some clue as to what I was doing, and realized that I'm super tired and I don't want to do anything since I had no motivation. Thankfully the love of my life lends me a hand and says.  "Just go for your run and come back and sleep".   All I heard was the word sleep, but that was motivation enough for me to get my butt in gear.   I get downstairs and realize, I didn't bush my teeth, part three of my failure recipe.   What was going on with me this morning?  I guess the moral of this story is,  resting is a crucial part of staying motivated.   I had a million and one excuses not to run today,  but thankfully I have a pretty good support system that got me through the moment.  But I put myself in a bad position by not giving my body the rest it needed.  Stay rested on this journey.  Lesson learned!


Today's Goal.

So today's goal, because I always set a goal every day, is to run to the bridge.  Now you might be asking, if your so tired and so unmotivated why didn't I go to the end of the street?  I'm personally not big on regressing. Reverting to my old goal would be going backwards.  I worked so hard to get to that bridge!  I pushed myself,  so I'm all in at this point.   So today's goal is bridge or die trying!






Today's Progress. 

So there I am, all unmotivated.  I have zombie for brains and I've manage to suit up for my run.  This morning seemed extra chilly out and I could feel my aches and pains with every step.  As I was running,  it became clear to me that I really need to gear up.  What are the things that can help me succeed.  Well,  for one, I am always thirsty during and after my runs.  So I think I'm going to pick up a camel pack.  I tried running with a water bottle, it was rather annoying swishing and swashing around in the bottle with every pounding step.   I also couldn't help but to wonder if my new Nike's were the right type of shoes for running, a thought Jen (my wife) put in my head the day before.  The great news is that with all this thinking, I clearly got out of Zombie brain mode and was more focused.  I found that I was already over half way down the street and now the goal of getting to the bridge didn't seem like such a big deal.    Um,  I was wrong.  It was a big deal.  By the time I got to the end of the street my ankle, which I rolled last year on the lip of a drive way, begun to really hurt.  My steady run, started to look more like a horses gallop and I was starting to fear that I might have to stop.  As we have discussed,  will power is my strength and I muster up the will to keep going.  "Get to the bridge" I tell myself.  "Just a little bit further" as I am huffing and puffing out of breath.

So I made it to the bridge, but I have no clue how I'm going to make it back.  My ankle hurts,  my legs hurt and I'm breathing like there is not enough oxygen in the air to satisfy.   I have to say it's looking pretty bleak.   Now, I'm a religious person and I believe in God and all that jazz.  So I pray for a second.  Lord, help me get home, and help me find the strength to keep going.   As I'm heading back,  I see this bright light and what appears to be an Angel in white.  As I'm running towards it, the light is getting brighter and brighter and this Angel says to me "quick come over here".   This wasn't any ordinary Angel,  it happen to be my wife driving down the street in my direction in her white Kia Soul.  Ha! Maybe I still had Zombie brains after all. She wanted me to come over and for me to give her a kiss as she was on her way to work.  But in that I found some motivation,  and it was just what I needed to keep me going.   I made my 1.2 miles against all odds today, thanks to my support system!