" No matter how you fall, just think how to get up fast." Ika Adriani
Picture this: It's a beautiful day - the sun is shining and the trees appear to be swaying a bit. Yes, it's windy, but not windy enough to discourage you from embarking on your weekly "long run". This week's run: 10 miles. Yes - 10 miles and you're ready to hit the pavement. You have on your sunglasses, an ear warmer, a long sleeve (adorable) pink shirt that says "One More Mile" across the front, black capri running shorts with a coordinating pink stripe that matches the color of the shirt, black gloves, white socks and your beautiful white gym shoes. In addition you have a belt strapped around your waist carrying your water bottle, keys, cell phone, Gu Chomps, Kleenex, Chapstick and an iPod nano. Earphones from your iPod are delivering the carefully selected tunes that are paced to your stride and on your wrist is your GPS calculating your pace as well as distance. You are totally prepared for a great run!
As you step out the front door and onto your porch a burst of cold air slaps you in the face. The logical thing to do would be to go back in the house and put on a running vest, long running slacks, a neck warmer and a hat - or simply stay inside and run on the treadmill. But you know better and you ignore the promptings telling you that you may not be as prepared as you THINK you are. So, off you go. The first mile is invigorating. The second mile is still good - but you start to get a bit chilly. Well into mile 3 your leg muscles feel like they may be freezing up a bit. You wonder, can muscles actually freeze and if they do freeze - will they still work? By mile 4 they're frozen solid but they appear to be functioning - you're still making headway toward mile 5. Then something happens that completely takes you by surprise. As you approach the curb - a curb you've conquered countless times - your frozen leg muscles refuse to cooperate and your worst fear happens. You fall. It's not a little "trip" or an "oops, I lost my balance for a second" stumble. It's an all and out fall and it appears to be happening in slow motion. Your toe hits the curb, you fall to the right scraping your right knee, shoulder, chin and cheek on the pavement, in that order. Your left foot makes a valiant effort to compensate for the utter chaos going on with your right side but is unable to gain control and gives up, causing your body to virtually collapse in the street. Amidst the dazed chaos, you instinctly know that the first thing you MUST do is GET UP FAST!!! You may have been knocked senseless for a moment, but you have ENOUGH sense to know that the entire world could be watching this fiasco in a few hours on youtube.
So you jump up with a not-so-confident "meant to do that" look on your face and then take a quick inventory of all your body parts and supplies. "Did I tear a hole in the knee of my running shorts?" (No.) "Is my iPod still working?" (Yes, music is playing.) "Where are my sunglasses?" (On the curb - get them quickly.) "Are they scratched?" (Who cares - just put them on - hopefully no one will recognize you.) "Did I break my leg or my hip, or my shoulder or my cheek?" (Doesn't feel like I did...they ARE frozen, however - maybe that protected them.) Did I knock any of my teeth out? (Nope - they're still there.) "Should I cry, call for a ride home and NEVER run again?" (Absolutely not...although selling your house and moving to Albuquerque does cross your mind for a moment.) Should I finish my ten miles even though I'm injured, embarrassed and frozen solid? (Yes...and as soon as you got your wits about you, you did!)
Well, you probably guessed that the poor unfortunate, and somewhat clumsy individual that you were picturing was me and the story is true. If I could list my most embarrassing moments - and I have had plenty - that experience would probably rank in the top 5. But I am still running in spite of it all.
Unfortunately, we all have weeks where we just don't feel like exercising. The motivation with which we started dwindles on occasion. We don't want to do it, we don't care if we do it and we come up with every reason why we don't need to do it. But the truth of the matter is that we DO need to do it. Our health demands it. Our bodies crave it whether we believe it or not. And, if we're honest with ourselves, we DO have the time. We just need to MAKE time in our schedules. We may have our set-backs, our falls, but that doesn't mean that should give up. It just means that we need to take a quick inventory, re-group and recommit.
I had a difficult week of exercise last week - my motivation was severely lacking. I finished my 5 days, but I didn't want to do it. I just knew I HAD to do it. I promised myself and I promised each of you that I would. I did, however, need to take a good hard look at myself and decide what I needed to do to regain my enthusiasm. I realized that I needed to have renaissance - a rebirth in my exercise program. Since today is Easter, I decided this day would be the perfect day to renew my efforts. I hope you'll take this time to do the same if you've experienced a lack of motivation recently. You may have an occasional "fall", but if you "get back up fast" you'll be able to pick up where you left off and finish what you started.
When you committed to the Mary-thon, you set a fitness goal for yourself for a reason. What was that reason? Did that reason go away - or is it still there? If it's still there (and my guess is that it is), you owe it to yourself to follow through, no matter what - no excuses. YOU deserve it so try not to let yourself down.
There's plenty of time to restart the Mary-thon and finish in time, if you have taken a fall. I'm here to offer you a helping hand, and I promise - I will NOT put it on youtube.com!
I love these words of encouragement quoted on buzzle.com: "Believe in Yourself! One of the most important factors that leads a person to success, is the belief in oneself. Most people become de-motivated because they do not trust their capabilities to achieve something. One must remember that hard work is the only way to success and in our effort to achieve success, we may encounter failures. This should be taken as a learning experience and one should continue working harder without losing hope."
Have a wonderful week and remember to...
Keep Moving Forward!
Mary
