Excuses, excuses

I am the queen of excuses, let me tell you. I have gotten worse about the excuses as the years go by. When I first began to run, I would pretty much run whenever and wherever. I did establish a routine for my longer runs, but for shorter runs, I just kinda did whatever.

Here is my routine for long runs:

Day before: Drink lots of water, don't eat anything greasy, no alcohol, lots of sleep
Day of: Half a power bar before the run with water, nothing else in my stomach, start early (8 am at the latest).

For my shorter runs, I would usually run after school or before work if I was working nights. Keeping in mind that I lived in Vancouver back then, so most of the time it was raining or cloudy and heat was not usually a problem. Moving to Texas made things a bit more difficult since I HATE THE HEAT. I especially hate running in the heat. In Texas, for 9 months out of the year, I was only physically capable of running before 8 am. So I became a little more rigid in the timing of my runs. If I wasn't up and out before 8, it was highly unlikely that I could convince myself to run. In addition to my heat restrictions, when I started training for the half marathon, I became afraid of longer distances. Like I would try to think of any reason I could to avoid those long runs (over 7 miles). Thankfully, I had both my running group and Jenni to be accountable to, so I usually was able to get out there and do it. I remember specifically, my first 10 mile run - also known as the BEST. RUN. EVER.- when it was thundering and raining. Before the run began, the run leader said we would not go if there was any lightning during our warm up. And boy did I ever wish for some lightning. In the end though, I went and it was awesome. I have many examples like this where I was trying to make excuses not to run, but once I started (or at least once I was finished) was so happy that I had gone through with it. You would think I would be able to use these past experiences to encourage myself to run when I don't want to. That is not the case.

Now that I am on my own over here in NB, I am finding that I make more and more excuses not to run, regardless of the length of the run.  They include the following.

I drank a beer last night.
I had two glasses of wine last night.
I slept in and don't have time because I really should be doing some unspecified work.
I didn't drink enough water yesterday.
I ate too many chips yesterday, and feel gross.
I am hungry.
It is too hot.
I do not feel well for some unspecified reason.
I can't run two days in a row.

I have also convinced myself that I MUST run first thing in the morning. If something is off in the morning and I don't run first thing, I assume that I cannot go until the next day.

It is getting ridiculous.

Today I slept in until 11! That never happens. Of course when I woke up, I immediately knew that my 6 mile run was not going to happen, especially with this heat wave we are having. Then I talked to Jenni and she was going to run in Texas at 9 am, which is crazy, so I figured that I could at least go for a short run. I was really hungry, but Jenni convinced me that I could just eat AFTER my short run. I got all ready to go, walked out the door and then D suggested we go grocery shopping because he was starving. I decided that since we were both hungry, it made sense not to run, so I went back in, changed, and left for grocery shopping.

In the meantime, Jenni was out having a tough run, and reassuring herself that at least I was suffering too.  When I got home and confessed to Jenni that I had not run, I felt like a total loser. I mean, there is no reason why D couldn't have waited 45 minutes for me to have a 30 minute run and a 15 minute shower. If I had suggested it, he would have totally agreed. I was just making excuses.

Jenni suggested that I just go for a run then. Well, of course, I couldn't go for a run then! It hadn't been 3 hours since I had last ate! There are rules!

But then I thought about it. I hadn't really eaten much, and it wasn't like I needed to run 6 miles, so why didn't I just go. I could always just quit if I got a cramp or got dizzy and nauseous (which is what usually happens if I don't wait 3 hours after eating to run). What a brilliant idea! I could just start, and if it sucked, I could stop. Thank you Jenni! Why had I never thought of that before?

So, I went out and did my run only 2 hours after eating lunch. And guess what? I survived! Even better, I liked it! I am going to try to remember this the next time I start making excuses.

I still didn't do my planned 6 mile run, but now I am thinking I will go do it on the trails at the beach on Monday since D has to go to Shediac for a meeting in the morning. What a brilliant idea!!

Distance: approx 2 miles on trails.
Lessons learned: I can just stop running if I feel shitty.
Song that rocked my run: Don't Stop by Brazillian Girls