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Last night I tossed and turned well passed midnight, so when my alarm went off at 4:30 AM for my morning run I made a sleepy, but sound, decision: I would sleep in and run on my own after work.
This decision won me three much-needed extra hours of sleep and nine hours to talk myself out of running after work. As the day wore on, my legs got more and more sore from yesterday’s early AM Yoga Meltdown session and I started to tell myself that maybe just stretching after work would be good enough. My sister asked me to hang out and I came so close to saying yes. And I almost scratched the run to go to the grocery store and make a home cooked meal.
Instead, I came straight home, changed into my running spandex and walked right out my front door without even stopping to look at my sweet, fat pugs (whom I’m sure were giving me the stink eye for not walking them first). I walked down my driveway, took a deep breath and set out for three miles … all by myself.
Almost immediately I passed two neighbors who were combining several activities: drinking wine, walking and weight lifting. You see, they were walking with a dumbbell in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. When they saw me they started laughing and told me that I was doing it the right way. I laughed back and told them that I thought their way looked like a lot more fun. I ran on with a smile on my face. I think I might try this workout tomorrow. 😉
My sore legs were heavy and my run was slow but it was a gorgeous night and being alone with my thoughts was splendid. Sometimes running solo isn’t such a bad thing… That is, when you can manage to not talk yourself out of it.
What do you do to avoid talking yourself out of a planned workout?
When I’m not feeling 100% about a workout, I force myself to put on gym clothes. Usually that is a good push to get moving. Then I just walk myself through the steps: Now just go outside, just one block, ok, just one mile. Eventually I get in the groove and stop hating it.
Yes! I’ve done this! You know what’s awkward? When your boyfriend comes home and says “you worked out?” while you’re sitting on the couch in your workout clothes and you have to admit that you never actually got around to it. LOL