Creatures of Habit
Wow, I can’t believe it. It’s already November! Thanksgiving is in a few weeks, but more importantly BLACK FRIDAY! Yes, I’m the crazy shopaholic that gets up at 3AM the day after Thanksgiving for good sales. Last year I got the HP Laptop
Anyway, I put some more thought into why I wasn’t feeling my “run” on Saturday. I read your comments too. We as humans are such creatures of habit, however, I realized, I needed something different. I go to the same park, jog the same trail, and I’ve listened to my Week 3 podcast so many times, that I know every word of every song and can do a 3 second count down before every interval. It was definitely time for a change. I weighed my options. I’m just not comfortable going to the park after dark, so the gym was my only location option. Then I considered using a stop watch to time the intervals….but yeah right, I knew I wasn’t doing that, I don’t even own a stopwatch. Then I thought about other couch to 5K podcasts and remembered Robert’s podcast. His podcast is what helped me run my 1st 5K and inspired me to create my own. I went to his site, and downloaded his Week 3 podcast to my iPod. As I was heading out to the gym, my computer photo screen saver flashed a pic of my family and friends with big poster signs supporting me at my very first race. I smiled knowing that God sent a little reminder that I have people who are cheering me on.
I picked up my Little sister and eagerly climbed the stairs to the indoor gym track. As I walked up the steps, my bad knee started talking to me, asking why I didn’t put on the supportive brace before I left….Oh well, I forgot it, but I was already there and determined to get through Week 3. It was so refreshing to hear something new. I ran every second of every interval, even with the post nasal drip sliding down the back of my throat… It felt so good. Well, mentally and emotionally good, physically, it was quite challenging. Maybe it’s hard because I’m too fat I told myself, and then I rebutted, maybe I’m not too fat since this is the same body that I’ve used to run several 5K’s. It’s amazing how our mind can trick us if we let it. At the end of the run I felt success. I was so happy that I was able to not only acknowledge that there was a problem, but fix the boring parts and move on. Even though sometimes being a creature of habit like working out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays can be a good thing, doing the exact same work out can get old and make you lose interest. So lesson learned: Keep your routine, but find a fun new way to mix it up so that you don’t get bored.
