Progress and Motivation

We made it to yoga successfully today. It was actually a really nice class—conveniently they have yoga classes for free near our office every Wednesday, so my coworker and I will definitely be going back. My prior yoga experience involved a class with a crazy woman who made us do sun salutations in rapid succession while making strange growling/breathing noises. It tended to leave me stressed out rather than relaxed, so I was quite happy to discover that these classes left me feeling very well stretched and content while still feeling very productive.

Shawna and I are going to be completing the Breast Cancer Awareness 30 Minute Challenge through Elastic Waist—woo hoo! I keep trying to recruit people to do it with me… I may have one follower so far. Also, I know I have at least two people who are doing the Hundred Pushup Challenge.

Speaking of which, pushups are hard. I may need to repeat week two because the seven required pushups at the end of my pushups last night were crazy hard. I’m doing real pushups rather than girly pushups and I think that may have been too ambitious. We shall see! Regardless, I DID do seven pushups in succession and when I started this I could only do five, so that’s progress, right?

Half marathon training continues to be difficult. A lot of that is due to the fact that its getting crazy cold outside already, but luckily yesterday I discovered a wonderful secret: two sports bras at once. The girls had been having some warmth issues. Earlier today I mentioned to a friend that half marathon training kind of makes me want to die sometimes (I didn’t mean that as a bad thing, as when I describe something as “making me want to die” it generally means that it’s crazy hard and therefore leaves me feeling very fulfilled when I’m done) and she made a comment that perhaps buying new running shoes would motivate me. I was surprised, and didn’t know how to respond, because I don’t think I lack motivation at all. It left me wondering, do my self-deprecating comments make it seem that way? Does something else about me make it seem like I’m not motivated?

I had a conversation about running with Shawna the other day when I told her that running made me want to die all the time when I first started—that’s kind of why I liked it, cause I figure it at least gave me a chance to celebrate each time that I completed a run and was still alive. I still get that feeling of happiness to be finished, but now I don’t find running as painful while it is in progress. The first mile or two is always the worst, and after that I tend to find it relaxing and even, dare I say it, enjoyable at times. Sure, it is challenging, but I’ve reached the point of finding pleasure and enjoyment in running about 90 percent of the time. The remaining 10 percent is reserved for runs where I am just miserable because sometimes that happens regardless of how much ass I kick. Usually on Mondays.

So, sure, half marathon training sometimes makes me want to die. It’s hard to increase my endurance and complete the necessary running each week. Sometimes it makes me sore and tired and cold and cranky. But if I lacked motivation, wouldn’t it keep me from putting my sneakers on and getting my butt out the door? Isn’t it the most difficult things in life that prove most worthwhile?

Perhaps what I should learn from this conversation is to quit whining. Pshaw, what's the fun in that?