Monday's are the days where I can find a million reasons not to run, but only one reason to: Goliath. I could put away laundry, organize my cabinets, finally hang the painting or figure out how to replace my carpet. Instead, I will lace up the nikes like I did today.
According to my training schedule, today was suppose to be speed work incorporated into a four mile run but at the two mile split I knew I'd have to go farther, faster and longer.
If you've ever struggled with your weight, and maintaining your goal you know as well as I do that having a daily reminder keeps you focused. Weight Watchers calls it an "anchor," and can you guess what mine is? We adopted my anchor after I lost my first five pounds, as both a reward and motivation. My anchor gets me up on cold mornings, and won't let me slow down on the uphills. When I try to stop, he'll shoot me a look like "Hey I'm not the one who ate that extra serving of pancakes and sausage," and then I get moving.
Our four by two run quickly turned into a 10k, our favorite distance. We run door to door, only stopping for a split or to greet another dog. For the first time in training, I felt like I might puke. I could feel those aforementioned food sins slowing me down. The desire to stop every five minutes didn't stop until mile four, when we approached another runner. An older man, clearly a seasoned vet, no running gadgets and worn out sneakers. As we passed each other, he said "Well at least the dog likes it!"
Darn it, I like it too. Before I knew it, I was home and peeling off sweat soaked gear. I look forward to my post work out protein. I usually have skim chocolate milk, and Goliath has a beggin strip. Lately, however, I've been playing mad scientist with protein powder and smoothies:
Monday's are the days where I need to remind myself why I do this, why I get up at 5am, why I need to push myself. The days where I need to find a million reasons to run, and throw the excuses out the bandwagon door. The days where I owe my success to my anchor on the end of a leash.
Today's Mileage: 6.21
Time: 1:08:43
2 comments:
I am in love with your pup! Sounds like you had an awesome run today - WTG!
Julia, i give you props on the pics. im just not dedicated enough to put pics on my blog like yours. I appreciate the puking thing. I once stayed up all night and then tried to bike a 3 mile track with all the crasy hills. yeah... i said cray-c. king burger style. anyway, julia the mad scientist... epic.
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