Last night Todd and I were sitting in the living room and I asked him what time he had to be at the studio in the morning. He said he had clients that would be there by 9AM. My mind started to whirl about how to fit my run in and still cook breakfast. Graciously, he did tell me that I didn’t have to cook for him. However, I’m trying to not let my new lifestyle affect our lives negatively. That is MY choice. I quickly decided that if I woke up by 6 I could wake up and be out on my run by 6:30 and I would be home by 7:30. I could then make breakfast and he would be out the door by 8 or 8:15. PERFECT. (Am I insane? Really? I just decided to wake up early for exercise???? Holy crapballs!) We went to bed and my alarm was set.
I was actually awake by 5:30 and took the time to wake up my normal way (which is checking my email, facebook and playing a round or two of Candy Crush). I was up and out of bed though before too long. I hopped into my clothes (which I had the presence of mind to lay out the night before) and I was out the door. I opted to drive to the battlefield this morning and run over there. I started running and decided that I was NOT going to run at my comfortable pace. (I just recently got to the point that I realized that my pace had become comfortable) Comfortable is good when you are buying a bra but it’s not the way to improve when you are exercising. I wanted to see what I was capable of doing. I pushed myself. I ran, no intervals…I just ran, and faster than comfortable. It felt uncomfortable and it honestly reminded me of those first weeks when I started the C25K program. I remember feeling like I was so awkward when I ran. I remember feeling stilted and odd. I know that just like that feeling was replaced by comfort, so will this newly revived feeling. My first mile was excellent. I pushed! The last two miles and the loose change after mile three were much more difficult and I actually did some of it as intervals. But even the intervals showed how much I have improved. Just a few weeks ago my intervals consisted of me switching between walking and jogging. Today I alternated between jogging and running….or at least a faster jog.
Here is the amazing thing. I was so full of energy after my run that after Todd left, I started cleaning the house. In the morning! Before work! By the time I got to work I had blown through half of the chores that I normally complete and drag through each week. So many times people say that they can’t work out because of time. But what they don’t realize is that the exercise is so energizing that it actually carries over into other aspects of your life. It’s really the perfect solution…..exercise in order to have the time to complete everything in life!
