Find A Penny, Pick It Up ... And Then Grab A Heiny!

It's Hot! But hot is nothing compared to ...
If you're lucky enough to get yourself out the door on a hellaciously hot day, like today, it must mean something to run by an entire dollar bill! Hopefully I'll have great week ... considering this last week has been pretty painful. Maybe painful isn't quite the right word. Maybe "out of sorts" is better. Or even "numb," and "shocking," more properly fit the way I've barely propelled myself through most of this week in zombie form.

What came first ... the motivation or the run?
My mental state certainly contributes to my motivation in getting out the door for a run sufficient enough to add to my training log. The whole running thing seems lately like another item at the very bottom of my "To Do" list; an item that rarely gets crossed off that same list. I had to explain to my mother today that focusing on my own sanity during a divorce, while looking for a job, and then desperately attempting to build my network of friendly support in a new-ish town, definitely trumps watching the news or even keeping up with the public opinion around certain Supreme Court Justice nominees. I'm pretty sure running contributes to that sanity I crave ... and I can hardly squeeze that in these days. (So don't ask me to participate on any political panels on current, or somewhat current, events!)

So, over this past week of chaos, stress, and unexpected emotion, my mental state has been stuck trying to analyze and sort and compartmentalize every detail, while simultaneously trying to let through only the necessary number of tears needed to process those details. Needless to say, the energy that might get sent to my muscles, my lungs, or the connections between my brain and my legs during anything resembling a run, has been redirected. There's nothing left.


The things that threw me out of whack both took place on Tuesday. Today is Saturday. Today, after spending most of my energy trying to fake "normal" for my visiting mother and for my kids, I forced my shoes onto my feet and my body out the door.

The Run
It's hot as hell, so I wasn't expecting to go far. In fact, I almost started sobbing with the first step. But with each subsequent step, my breath came back and my lungs took over. My iPod is full of newly added music to push me through my attempt and I actually surprised myself by running for a full 20 minutes before taking a quick 2 minute walking break. The cloud cover helped with the blazing sun factor, so I was able to push through a total of about 40 minutes and even had a smile on my face before I walked back through the front door.

And on top of it, I found a dollar! I must be rich in luck! I think I'll save that very dollar to buy my next lotto ticket. Or maybe I'll just keep it stashed in my water bottle as my own personal good luck charm.

And if I have trouble finding my motivation for sticking to training in the future, my mother suggested that I attempt future runs with a Heineken in hand. I could drink away my sorrows while getting my run crossed off my list. Why didn't I think of this before??