There are many days were I just do not feel motivated to get out and run. Here is a kicker for you...sometimes I hate running. Especially when it's early, cold, and I rather stay in my sweatpants, drinking coffee, and reading. This morning was no different. Having the day off, I got up that morning with great ambitions. I wanted to clean the apartment, plant my new succulents (yay!), do laundry, run, etc. When it came time to get ready to go run, I kept thinking of things I could do around the apartment; procrastinating the inevitable.
Most runners will agree that when you get in these slumps, you usually feel the opposite right after a run. I blame that mostly on the beta-endorphins that are released when you run...which give you that "runner's high" and make you feel exhilarated for a majority of the day. Regardless of knowing these things, it is still the entail push that is the hardest. Just getting out that door.
I had decided since I didn't want to attempt another long, strenuous trudge through the unshoveled sidewalks around my apartment, that I would just go out for 30 minutes. With my head down for most of the run, I was miserable. Usually my music boosts my mood, but today it wasn't happening. Maybe it was the frustration that I wasn't establishing the base I wanted before starting my marathon training, or maybe it was the lingering twinge I felt in my it-band and hips...
Finally finding a sidewalk that was shoveled, I made my way, dawdling up the road. Peering out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something yellow in a tree up the hill. My first thought was that it was a lingering leaf, but upon getting closer, it appeared to be an ornament! A beer glass ornament! Taking it out of the tree, I laughed out loud.
This small action that someone took to put this high up in the tree, simply made my run and my day a little brighter. The rest of the run was spent with my head up, with a smile on my face. I don't know exactly what it was about finding the ornament, but I suddenly realized that I this run wasn't as atrocious as I had anticipated it to be.
Embracing my environment, I started to notice red berries flourishing, grass poking through the snow, many bird's nest scattered throughout the trees, and it hit me how we aren't in the "dead of winter." Winter isn't a dead season, but an alive and thriving one. A season where you see the strength in the world around us, pushing through the harsh weather. Where we all beg for more sun, but take what we can get...glimpses of sun flares, warmer cloudy days, and hopes for tomorrow.
With this mindset, I'm looking forward to my longer run tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll get another reminder to enjoy the simple things...like a glass of beer.
This small action that someone took to put this high up in the tree, simply made my run and my day a little brighter. The rest of the run was spent with my head up, with a smile on my face. I don't know exactly what it was about finding the ornament, but I suddenly realized that I this run wasn't as atrocious as I had anticipated it to be.
Embracing my environment, I started to notice red berries flourishing, grass poking through the snow, many bird's nest scattered throughout the trees, and it hit me how we aren't in the "dead of winter." Winter isn't a dead season, but an alive and thriving one. A season where you see the strength in the world around us, pushing through the harsh weather. Where we all beg for more sun, but take what we can get...glimpses of sun flares, warmer cloudy days, and hopes for tomorrow.
With this mindset, I'm looking forward to my longer run tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll get another reminder to enjoy the simple things...like a glass of beer.
