Will it never be warm? Surely the sun is not burning as bright as it should this close to spring? Is it ill refusing to chase the cold from the day? No, it is just tired. Can you blame it? Like ourselves, that jolly ball has endured too much this year. It has grown too tired to shake off the cold of winter And if it it could would sleep a bit longer. Oh, but let us not give up. Let us keep running and maybe the sun will follow? -- A poem written as I waffled on running this morning
I did not gladly hit the road this morning, it was 28 degrees and I’m tired and not just in my bones and muscles.
Now I could go on with a list of things I’m tired of and reasons why I deserve a break from the road — but I think we’ve all crossed that line on a lot of things in the last year, so I won’t enumerate my complaints.
Instead I’ll just tell you how I did get out there.
At first I did the waffle. Not eating them, but waffling back and forth over whether I was going to go out, sort of like having the devil and angel on your shoulder.
“It’s too cold.”
“But once you get moving, you’ll feel great.”
“Screw you angel….”
“Sigh.”
I went to the excuses and the delaying tactics. It’ll be warmer tomorrow, that will be better.
I then kicked myself
But then I bargained with myself. Maybe I wouldn’t run. Instead, I’ll just do some yoga, you know I did do a 5K on Friday.
That’s usually key for me, getting some stretching in. It sort of bolsters my courage.
I also took a look at some reels on social media. I follow several runners and seeing them out on the road lifts my spirits.
But the real push to get me out the door is my son. He was watching me and I want to set a good example, show him that you have to make time for exercise and yourself even when you’re an adult.
Too many of us wind up, at least for part of our lives, shorting time for the things we shouldn’t as the demands and obligations from work and family and our community increases. So usually, the first person we short is ourselves. We cut out the runs, or the lifting, or the hiking or the other things that we can do to sort of center ourselves in this world. I know friends who have given up reading for their own enjoyment, though they used to love it. That is of course tragic, not just for them, but for me as a writer. But that’s a different story.
So I’ve been working hard showing him you have to make time to do something like running and exercise, even if its just 10 or 15 minutes a day. It’s important.
Anyway, I finished my stretching and got my jacket and my hat and out the door I went for a short, 20 minute run and I did feel good. And I admit, it wasn’t as cold as it has been.
Still, I’ll feel better about getting out there when it’s warmer and winter finally lets go of us here in Reno.
Keep running, keep writing
Chalk Creek Writing Outfit 