And then we were robbed of an hour of time. Just like that.
I bet night-type people enjoy this. Now I'm shorted an hour of daylight. Why do we call this daylight savings time? It is now pitch black when I'm supposed to be running or cycling. What the hell?
When 4:30am suddenly becomes 3:30am, life gets rough. This morning my alarm jolted me out of sleep after having gotten up at 4:45am for months with no alarm clock. I grabbed a cup of coffee and crawled back under the covers with it.
I heard rain outside my window. What is that? I got up and peeked out the window. The street was wet. It was raining. Grrr.
I had a full body strength training routine to do at the gym and then on to a speed workout at the track. Can you run at the track in the rain? I guess it depends on whether or not it's an all-weather track. I have no clue.
These are the days when I need a reminder of why I do this. Because there are plenty of people who don't. And most of them are plenty happy. Training is miserable some times. The motivation you get from embarking on a training routine in the first place never lasts very long. You get some crazy idea to do some stupid race and it all sounds fine and dandy. And then reality sinks in. Training is hard. Eating right is hard. Getting out of bed at 4:45am after the government just stole an hour from you, is hard. Suddenly the original fun idea is not fun anymore.
Lately I've been thinking about Boston. I guess because it's that time of year, the trial is on the news, and my physical therapist requested a Boston picture of me. Remembering the excitement of Boston, it's easy to remember why I do this. I think about running and swimming events I've done in my life, when it was time to perform, when it was time to put aside whatever I had going on, and give it the best I had. I love those days. The moment when the buzzer goes off, and you start your journey. In that moment there's no making up for lost training, poor nutrition, crappy sleep habits. There's no un-doing injuries or illnesses. You have what you have and now it's time to show yourself what you can do with it.
Snuggled under my covers with my coffee this morning, I decided I would have to dig into some of my Boston memorabilia for some motivation....after my workout that is. I have my short sleeve and long sleeve training shirts. I have a sweatshirt, and of course my medal hangs on the wall with my other medals. My gym shoes are the ones that ran Boston.
I tumbled out of bed for cup number two and set some rainy running gear on the bed- my shorts, a hat, and a rain jacket, and then got dressed for the gym. After my gym workout I head straight to the track, so I bring my running clothes with me. I drank my protein shake and headed out into the rain.
The gym workout went well-upper body and lower body weights and an ab routine. I looked out the window into the darkness and then went to change into my running clothes. When I got to the track it was still fairly dark, and still raining. I groaned and got out of the car.
The track was wet-but turns out it's all-weather. Not slippery at all. It wasn't as crowded, but as expected, there were walkers with umbrellas. I suppose that's fair. By the end of my workout my shoes were soaked but the rest of me fairly dry. I went home, had a cup of hot coffee and some quick pasta before my hot shower (hey, it was the only thing already made).
Then I decided to go back to my Boston blog, look at the photos of my running gear laid out on the bed, the temporary tattoo on my arm, and read the story again- to get that sense of the rewards for all my hard work.
And...it made me cry. What an emotional and rewarding experience! (Aunt Pat- I found a couple typos and fixed them.) People who wonder why I'm so hard on myself and try my best not to miss a workout, have obviously never experienced anything like this first hand. Yes the training sucks sometimes. It's hard. But not everyone will get to experience what I did- and that was due to hard work and commitment. It was due to pulling myself out of a soft, snuggly bed. Eating healthy food when I'd rather have McDonald's.
And when I see my times improve, that's another reward for my hard work. It's such an amazing transformation for me since it wasn't too many years ago when I would not call myself a runner. I felt I was too slow to be labeled a runner, which in itself is pretty silly. I think I tried to deny it for awhile too. Especially because if I admitted I was a runner- a marathon runner at that- then I would have to train hard, be dedicated, make sacrifices, and be strict with how respectful I am to my body.
But it pays off. The reward is great, and it's personal. Possibly my most inspiring photo is of my Boston running outfit laid out on the hotel bed the night before the race. When the excitement and nerves had me restless and unable to concentrate. When I was about to take part in one of the greatest running events in the world.
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