Sunday, January 29, 2012

It Ain't Nothing But A Mental Thang Baby...

Please pardon my poor reference to early '90's rap or Dr. Dre to be more specific.  I have been in some weird mental time warp with music.  Walking around with early '90's songs in my head....TLC, Salt-N- Pepa, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg...you know.  So it just seemed fitting to work it into my post tonight.

As I get back into running, like legitimately running, I am finding more and more that so much of it is this mental game I play with myself.  Like playing weird games about if I put my shoes on by this time I will run, if I run one mile I can reevaluate my original goal...you know things like that.  I pinned this picture on Pinterest that said the hardest step for a runner is the first one out of the front door. Now, I am not going to assume that this rings true for anyone else other than myself.   You may decide to run or exercise and feel totally jazzed and pumped and are running towards your door with wild abandon because of your overwhelming excitement.  However, I find myself having to really give myself a good pep talk.  And if I am being honest with you, this pep talk continues well into my run.  I think I may even make a big poster to hang in front of my treadmill that says you can do it or something cheesy like that.  Whatever works right?

I guess this is all to say that last night I ran five miles straight.  No walking and no stopping just straight running the whole time.  It took me 52 minutes and 39 seconds.  It was about a 10.5 minute mile pace.  So I am not setting any records, but I totally did it.  The thing is I knew I needed to do it and I had been stressing for a couple days about it.  Thinking how I wasn't sure I could and how I would probably just stop around three miles.  Even in the run I thought if I got to three I would be happy.  Even though that's what I have been doing and I clearly need to progress if I am to ever actually run this mini marathon I signed up for.  Because if I am not mistaken that will require me to run 13.1 miles. 
I pinned this and the link did not take it back to the original...I have no idea where it came from

I really believe that we so often get in the way of ourselves.  We constantly get in the way of our own abilities and dreams and talents.  We doubt what we can do, we doubt what we can't do and in the end we doubt what God created us to do and who God created us to be.  When it comes to exercise and being healthy, God gave us a certain responsibility to keep ourselves healthy.  This requires doing the tough stuff and getting past those mental road blocks.  We only have one earthly body and we only have a certain amount of time to care for it.  Someone told me they once saw a sign during a race that said "the day will come with my body won't let me do this anymore, today is not that day" or it was something along that lines.  I try to remind myself of this.  I try to remember that even though my body may not feel as young as it once did and it may not bounce back quite like it did when I was sixteen, I am still more than capable of exercising until it hurts.  I am more than able get in the best shape of my life at 28.  (Not that this is my goal)  I am able and it is my responsibility to show my kids that their health is important and that this is how it happens.  Not just a diet or a fad or some miracle drug that helps you shed the pounds, but straight up exercise.  No matter how many pep talks that requires or how long those talks have to be, I will do this.  Because while coming back from being out of shape can hurt, there is a whole lot of negative mental "thangs" going on to stop us from being who and what we were meant to be. 

So go get it bloggies.  Get out there and do what you have been talking yourself out of.

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