What to Say?

I really want to type something pithy and inspiring. Thought provoking, even…. but this is me we’re talking about, so don’t set your hopes too high (unless you love disappointment, that is). This past week I didn’t run at all. Of course I have my excuses, which I will share, but in the end I just decided to take off. Period…. Now on to my excuses.

Firstly, I’ve been working at the local children’s theatre here in town with a 2 week academy. It started this past Monday and for me the hours are 8:15 – 3 (or there abouts). I’m responsible for all aspects of the set, props, building, painting, costumes, etc. etc. It’s a big job but I have great interns and apprentices working with me so it’s not too bad. The thing is I like to run in the morning…. 7:30 to be exact. That is the perfect time for me. I can slowly wake up, check my email, update my Facebook and then head out to run (I am spoiled, and I openly admit it). I tried to tell myself that if I could head out by 6:15 I might still be able to squeeze in a quick run. But to get out by 6:15 I’d need to wake up by 5:45 AM. As I’ve found out this week… that just isn’t going to happen. At least not without a will of steel, which apparently I don’t possess. So I didn’t run in the morning.

That’s cool, because I told myself I’d run in the afternoon when I got home. Here comes my second excuse: I just didn’t want to. Plus I had all this housework and laundry waiting for me when I got home. Now, I’m not one to balk at going to the gym instead of doing those kinds of things, but when everyone in the house has run out of underwear, I suppose it’s time to do something. And when your house is on the verge of looking like it could be on TLC’s “Hoarders: Buried Alive”…..well,  need I say more? So this week, house stuff trumped running stuff.

In the end, I doubt that taking off this week will seriously affect anything I’m doing. It might even help, because even though I didn’t run this week, I found myself wanting to run. I did get a 5 mile run in on Saturday, so that was good. We were in Waco this weekend and Beth (my SIL) asked if I was able to run Saturday morning. My answer was “Yes, just a short 5 miles”. We kinda looked at each other and she said, “Did you ever think you would say ‘a short 5 miles’?”… then we both started to laugh. It made me remember when I started this thing. How my first 5 mile run loomed and I was quite nervous about it. Now during the week my short runs average about 4 miles, and I’ve run an 8 mile long run! I never thought I’d see the day where I would tell someone, “Yeah, just a short 5 miles”…. too funny.

Oh, I also got the try out my new “QuickDraw Plus” water bottle on Saturday, and I loved it! I’ve tried to run just carrying a Gatorade bottle, but found that actually having to “hold” it was quite a pain.

This bottle had a handy little strap that fits around your hand so you don’t have to grip it at all. It even has a pocket for keys and such, but I haven’t used that yet. I filled it half full with G2 and froze it. This in the morning I filled it the rest of the way so it stayed cold through most of the run. I would have to give it 5 out of 5 stars! I got it from Road Runner Sports, if you were wondering.

Now, get out there and do something you’d never thought you’d do!