Some years back, I used to say that it was impossible for me to wake up early in the morning to exercise. Today, my best days are when I wake up early (around 6am) and I jog while the sun is rising. It is like my all body gets alive as the blood passes in my veins in a rush.
I used to think that exercising in the morning would make me feel more tired during the day, but I couldn't be more mistaken. After exercising, I feel very energized, very focused, very alive. I do my best work and I am in my best mood when I run the most. It started to be an addiction.
And I only started to run about 18 months ago, when I reached a overweighed stage, and I felt I had to do something about it. I've put in my mind that I had to run a half marathon, like so many people I admire for their discipline and focus do.
But running, it is not about your legs, or your weight, or your knees. It is all about your mind. Your mind gives you a lot of excuses not to run. I'm too tired, I haven't slept, it is too late, it is too early, I'm too heavy and it will be bad for my knees ... I know this from my own experience J
And for me it still is an effort to control my mind to go running regularly. Especially when I'm traveling, I get a lot of excuses not to run. But then I miss it. Yesterday I got home late. Too late for running. Then I thought, why is it so late? I've run at this time several times before, and I see several other people running even later than this. Why shouldn't I go run? And I couldn't have felt better. I think it was one of my best runs, even better than when I ran my first half marathon. Not the feeling of finishing it, but the way I felt while I running. My heart rate was very controlled, and I had the feeling that if I wanted to run more, I could. It was great.
There are two quotes that help me a lot while running (and in many other things too). Someone once told me "Life is a marathon, not a sprint", and this is so true. Before I didn't have the patience to run this long, I would get bored. Same thing used to happen with any training plan, either for running or in the gym. I always wanted to see immediate results. Running helps me develop my patience skill.
The other one was a slide that I saw in a training class, with big red capital letters that said "Winners Never Quit, and Quitters Never Win", and sometimes when I'm running and I start feeling tired, this phrase keeps me going. I can slow down, I can even walk fast, but I will not stop, I will not quit.
The other thing that helps me run are the gadgets and today's technology :-) For those who don't know me, I'm a techy person. So my Garmin Forerunner 305 , a heart rate monitor with GPS, where you can program your trainings, set alerts for heart rate or pace levels, upload to websites and see it and replay it in a map, share with friends and do virtual competitions also keeps me going. If I can't find someone to run with me physically, the gadgets and my online friends really fill that gap. And it is nice, you share experiences, you have a healthy competition, you motivate each other.
Overall, running for the past 18 months has been a wonderful experience that I want to incorporate as a habit in my entire life. What about you? Why don't you start your "running"?
