Day 8 - Slayed with a two handed broadsword

"Wake up Mister" she says in a gentle voice from across the room.  "If you get up now and run, you can come back and sleep".  I couldn't help thinking that was a great idea, but I outright knew that would never happen.  Once I'm up,  suited and have run, sleep becomes the furthest thing from my mind.  Regardless,  the soothing sound of my wife's voice is motivation enough for me to drag my sleepy behind out of bed.  I looked at the clock,  5:10 A.M.  ugh.   I was extra sleepy today mostly because I took a sleeping supplement last night.  I have trouble sleeping sometimes and I need a little extra something to help me knock out.  The downside is that when I wake up,  I become the equivalent of dragging a tun of bricks.  Even wiping the sleep from my eyes becomes a vigorous task.  Luckily for me, the side effect (TunOfBrick Syndrome) wore off and I got suited up and ready to run.

Last week was pretty fantastic,  I felt so accomplished and I sure hope that I can replicate that success.  Like I said before, I'm addicted to success.   Some time ago I realized that everything that I do has a success or failure clause.  It really doesn't matter how big or small the success is,  what matters is the importance of the goal.  Getting out of bed and getting suited up to go run, is routine and doesn't have great importance in the grand scheme of things, but it still is a success.  It could have failed if I put my head back on the pillow and said screw it.   However, I didn't and now I'm up and ready to run.  I find that being addicted to success is very motivating.  Now I can see how much I really win over life struggles and I really appreciate a win over some big goal much more.  Maybe I'm a bit OCD about it, but it's my thing.

Yesterday, I made a decision about what Green Lantern costume version I wanted to wear.  I chose the Movie Green Lantern style as that is what I feel in love with.  Thanks to my wife for really helping me to sway my decision. She told me, that she felt that I should go with the one I fell in love with. We, my wife and I, are often on the same page with these sort of things and all she had to do was back me up and the decision was made.   I did a little bit of research last night after we got back from seeing the movie "In to the Woods".  If you've seen the movie, did you just sing that in your head? Ha!  I did as I was typing it.    Anyways,  I did some research and I think that I want to, at the very least, make an attempt at creating the costume myself.   All of the pre-made costumes in my opinion are pretty lame and I want something that looks uber (yes that's a word).

Figure 1

Figure 2

This is what my plan is,  I'm going to go buy a wetsuit.  They are made out of foamed neoprene and with a little research, I found out that you can paint on them.  Some people have even said that you can spray paint it, and heck I'm only going to be wearing it for one night so spray paint should due just fine.   I'm going to spray paint it black on all the parts that are not black yet.  Then I'm going to create a foam mold of the Green Lantern logo.  I'm going to have to cut up the wetsuit a little and sew in the foam logo mold into the chest.  I sure hope that holds up.  Then I'm going to use white lights behind the logo to make the chest light up.  the green lights are going to go horizontally across the chest and I will cut slits and use clear pegs to create openings so the light can shine through.  I just hope I don't end up looking like a Christmas tree.  If all goes well, I should be able to achieve this type of look (figure 2).  The last part is going to be kinda of tough to do.  I'm going to have to paint the muscle texture all over the suite.  I have not figured out exactly how I'm going to pull of that part.  But If I can get it to look right, I think I'll have a pretty sick looking costume.

Today's Goal.

Yesterday, I ran my 1.6 miles and it was the third time in a row that I was able to do that.  So it is definitely time to press on.  As Jen and I were on our way to the movies,  I got a good look at where I wanted to run to.  As you turn right off of Dulin Rd and head up the Old Hwy 395 there is a another bridge that goes over what use to be a river, I think.   So my goal for today was to make it over that bridge.


Today's Progress.

I found myself hitting the street today refreshed from the weekend.  This week poised a whole new set of challenges.   Will I be able to get to the Mobile AM/PM this week?   Running is starting to become second nature to me.  I'm no longer thinking about how hard it is and I'm no longer thinking about pain.  Now it's just me, managing my breathing and the road.

It was a brisk morning today.  The cold was a bit of a shock, but as soon as I got to the end of my street I was nice and cozy in my hoodie.   Once again I turn off of my street putting no importance on it, and head to the end of Dulin Rd.   Even the old bridge that towered over me was no longer an important obstacle in my path.  It had become just a part of the scenery.   Dulin Rd however had great importance.  The end of Dulin Rd means that I will be starting my new journey toward the Mobile AM/PM and it definitely uncharted running territory for me.

Stopping was not even a thought as I run past the Dulin Rd Stop sign.   I'm headed for my goal and I know I can make it there with ease.  I've been managing my breathing pretty well.  Breath in through my nose and then two breaths through my mouth.   I do this in a rhythm which formed a breathing pattern.

Old Hwy 395 is a dark run.  There are no lights to light up the road and it is quite creepy.  I've never been a fan of the dark.  In fact I've always been afraid of it.  So running over this creepy bridge, and only having a glimmer of light from the moon that is battling it's way though the rainy cloud cover was kind of scary for me.   I think I was actually running a bit faster just to get it over with.

I hit my goal and headed back and I can't help but to be proud that the worst part of my run was being scared of the dark.  Ha!   I'm no longer struggling with pain.  Sure the run back is tough.  It always is, but it is no match for my will.   I'm starting to find that I have a lot of time to think, and I've found a new habit that I can take up while I run.  Like I said in a previous post,  I'm pretty religious and I am a believer.   So I took a solid 5 minutes of my run to pray and be thankful for all that is given.  This was nice distraction from any struggles on the way back, and I found that I was nearly home.

Today I slayed my goal with a two handed broadsword.  I killed it and it didn't even feel like I had to try that hard.  I kind of feel that I undershot my capability and I think I could have run a bit further. So tomorrow, I'm going for the Gold!  Mobile AM/PM  here I come!