Saturday, February 20, 2010

20...I will NOT quit.

WHAT I DID

I used "the stick" for five minutes on each calf before I went out today....then I rulked 3.35 miles in 43 minutes (including my 10 minute warm up and a five minute cool down).  My average speed was 4.7 mph which is an increase.  The whole time I had to remind myself ...TELL myself... I am not a quitter.  I don't want to be a quitter.  I will not be a quitter.  (More about this in the bottom section.)
One section of my run was on a road that has a bunch of little cypress (maybe cedar) trees planted an equal distance apart.  I started running at the start and told myself to run to the end (maybe 1/5 a mile).  I immediately wanted to quit so I started counting the trees and kept telling myself "just one more" until I made it to the end.

At 31 minutes, I was at the end of my street.  I had just told myself I would not quit, but seeing my house I thought it would be perfectly acceptable for me to finish my rulk since I was originally only supposed to go 30 minutes under the plan I started with.  I felt like the biggest quitter.  My neighbors were all out working in their yards and I imagined them all saying to me, "You're a quitter!!"  Never mind they had no idea how far I'd been or how long I'd been out there...never mind they would NEVER say that to me...  So I pushed myself and kept going.  I am SO GLAD I DID.

WHAT I LEARNED
I love my new shoes!!  No shin splints today!  They are not like running on pillows which is what I would prefer, but they do what they were designed to do--give my fee the support they need.
I am lazy.  Yes, it's true and I admit it as much as I'd like to deny it.  (More about this in the next section.)
I need to drink more water.  My mouth felt like a ball of cotton about 15-20 minutes in.
I can CERTAINLY do more than I think I can. 
WHAT I AM GOING TO DO
I have said it before, but I haven't done it yet---I am going to go somewhere else to run.  I don't think it will make me not want to quit, but I THINK it will make it a little harder since my house won't be right there.  Another idea I has was to have my husband drive me out about 3-5 miles and drop me off.  I'd be forced to finish then!!
I was telling my husband about how I was feeling and he said he thought running had lost the appeal to me.  That's just not true.  I really love it.  I love the way it makes me feel.  I think about it all the time--even now just an hour after my internal debate, where I had to force myself not to quit, I wish I was still out there.  I long for the day when I can go out and run for hours.  But, the thing is, I'm LAZY.  This is something that's going to take work for me to do.  I can't just go out and do what I want to do.....it's going to REQUIRE perserverance--something I've been short on my whole life.  I can act like I can do anything I put my mind to...but the truth is when what I put my mind to gets hard, I decide to change what I've put my mind to doing!!  
I'm going to ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH A DECISION I'VE ALREADY MADE---to keep running...to keep training for the marathon...to keep remembering this is a goal I made for me....to keep seeing myself crossing the finish line... 
Most of all, I'm going to win the race against myself.  I can do it.  I will do it.
Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!!
:D

3 comments:

  1. As I think you've read, I'm working on losing weight. What has helped me is memorizing scripture. Then I find that my mind is on memorizing and not on food or eating. You may already know this passage, but I thought maybe a good verse on perseverence would help you as your run....just a thought.

    Romans 5:3-5 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts aby the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

    Just a thought...instead of counting trees or wondering what the neighbors are saying, try fixating your mind on God and his word. It's been working for me - I'm down 20 pounds! (I got about 20 more I want to go and I do NOT want to quit either!!) Good luck and thank you for the updates!

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  2. I LOVE the mental work you're doing here on top of the physical! I often, like you describe with the "counting trees," make deals with myself: "OK, this is hard today, Let's just go for ten minutes, then stop." That, of course, is always followed by, "Wow, I made it ten minutes, let's see if I can go for another ten..." and so on, and so on! I am AMAZED at how well I am able to trick myself EVERY time!

    You're working so hard here, physically and mentally, Dana. There's NO WAY this isn't going to pay off! Awesome work, Girl!!

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  3. Dana ~ Thanks for finding my journey of running through life. Treadmills a certainly a love/really don't like relationship. However due to my weather this winter (SW PA) I have had to call on him more than I would have wanted! I have a 50k trail marathon on March 6th that I hope will be happening (ice and snow may cause the park to cancel it...grrr. Oh Yeah safety is important!).

    Great job sticking with it! As I like to say, it really is only one foot in front of the other. The rewards are so worth it!

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