My Samuel L. Jackson Moment

I don’t remember the first time my alarm went off but I do vaguely remember the second time because my clock said 6:29 AM. A few seconds later my backup cell phone alarm sounded. I asked God to give me strength to get out of bed for group training. After all I am doing this to help people with blood cancer. I sleepily strolled down the stairs to let Nyah out to potty.  To my surprise, snow was coming down like a blanket.  My car and the streets were covered. My inner Sam L. Jackson voice from the ridiculous movie “Snakes on a Plane” came out…I angrily exclaimed “I’m so sick of this mofo snow on my mofo car!!!”  There was no way that I was shoveling my sidewalk or scraping snow off of my car again.  Not in the freezing cold and not at 6:30 in the morning.  Plus it was coming down so hard I knew that the streets wouldn’t be safe. I climbed back in bed knowing that I would still have to find time to get in my 8 miles today.  I ran some errands and picked up my little sister and went to the gym. I decided to do 4 miles on the indoor track and 4 miles on the treadmill.  I couldn’t decide what type of music to listen to, so I downloaded a book on tape. I guess they’re not really called the book on tape anymore? I went to audible.com and downloaded the digital version.  As I walked, I listened to African-American fiction king, Eric Jerome Dickey’s book called Sleeping with Strangers. Put the kids to bed before you listen to this one! It’s a sexy little story about the beginnings of a hit man for hire. I had only broken a small sweat after I finished the first 4 miles.

 When I made it down to the workout room I was surprised to see my Dad on the stationary bicycle. We chatted for a quick second and I got on the treadmill. He said, “Daughter, I did not know that you walked that fast.” I was only walking at a 17 min. mile pace, which I thought was pretty slow. I guess it’s a Dad’s job to encourage you…. Not long after my uncle, my Dad’s brother, came in too.  It was a family affair!  Once I started getting towards the end of my routine, my little sister started to get restless. She complained that we were in the gym all day long, since they opened. She said that everyone had come and gone but we were still there. I think there may have been a little bit of truth to that because my Daddy and my uncle were gone by the time that we left.  But you know what?! For the first time in my life, I walked 8 miles! It might have taken me 2 and a half hours, almost all day according to my little sister, but I did it.  And, I have posted my picture from my Nike iPod app to prove it!

My 8 Mile Walk!