In the winter, it’s easy to get out of all those un-lazy habits.
If you don’t have to, why should you wake up early to work out when it’s still dark out? Even if you have to wake up early, it’s still hard to want to do anything until the sun has at least risen. At least, that’s how I feel. I wake up early, but once things are said and done I might not be ready to actually work out or leave the apartment until noon.
The fact that I was tired yesterday at 12:30 and so kept procrastinating on running had more to do with my pattern of laziness than it did with any other factor. The weather was mild (30 degrees), the sidewalks were clear, and it wasn’t even threatening to rain, although the sky was pretty cloudy. I was just so tired. Too tired to run.
When I texted my mom that I should be running but didn’t really feel like it, she said, “Dang! Psych up!” Sigh. I didn’t want to.
I dragged out getting dressed, stopping to fold the latest load of laundry from the dryer. I spent a few minutes mapping out possible routes. I browsed a website for a nearby trail that I hadn’t heard of before. I searched for some decent audio books. Lately, I’ve been listening to the podcast for This American Life on my runs. It makes an hour go by like it’s nothing. I’m taking a break from music. So, I thought, maybe if I can find a good audio book, I’ll try that out…
Finally, by 1:30, I was dressed and ready to go. I could have run from my apartment but instead I drove over to the library for a change of scenery. I suppose it’s not so much the scenery as it is the lack of sidewalks near our dwelling that makes me drive over there. Plus, I vaguely wanted to try a new route. But un-vaguely I wanted to take a nap.
I expected that the run would not be a pleasant one and would in fact be kind of difficult. On Tuesday I ran a fast four after I was interviewed for a video on campus. I was trying to push myself and the balance of my running backpack gave my shoulder a cramp, and it was just kind of a struggle overall. My legs have been sore from my awesome new Xbox Kinect games, namely YourShape Fitness 2012, and so they were being a tad uncooperative.
At 1:45 I started up a new podcast, locked the car, and headed out.
And I felt great.
The first few miles of my seven-mile loop were uphill. It’s not a hugely steep grade but it is an incline all the way up Okemos Road, but even so, I wasn’t having a super hard time. My mile splits, although not at the amazing speeds I’d prefer, were decent. And then I got to the second corner, where I’d turn onto a different road and come back along the other side of the square-ish route.
From there, man, it was all downhill. What a glorious feeling! My shoulder felt awesome. My legs, for the first time in days, loosened up and didn’t ache. I felt awake.
By the time I got back to my car I just felt so much better. Finally, I was ready to get on with things.
Sometimes, if you lay around enough, the body can deceive you into thinking that you’re too tired to run; that you’re too tired to work out; that the only thing you can do is go back to bed. Sometimes that’s true. But I think more often than not, I’m actually not too tired to run. I’m too tired not to run. The more energy I spend on running and working out, the more energy I seem to have.
It’s just one of those bizarre facts of life. Yes, running can be tiring, but it hit me again yesterday that usually it’s the thing that wakes me up. It’s time to start readjusting to the spring and summer schedule. The sooner I get out and run, the sooner my day can start.
I just have to commit. I have to use a firm tone with myself. No more excuses. (Okay, fine. Fewer excuses).
I’ll get there.