Reflections from a Treadmill

I got a little frustrated today. Drew woke up at 5:45am, starting the day off with a bang. Anna and I took the kids out to the park, a friend’s house, and shopping (don’t tell Kyle). By the time we got home, had lunch, and I convinced Drew that she had to take a nap, it was 2:30pm. I plopped down on my couch exhausted. All I wanted to do was take a nap, but something was preventing me from ultimate relaxation (no, it wasn’t Hazel, she was sleeping soundly before Drew... God bless her). It was the fact that in an effort to be more scheduled with extracurricular activities, I had reserved this day to run and I needed to do it while the girls napped.

I realized that I was trapped. I am a slave to my workout. I spent 15 minutes trying to rationalize a nap. Anna and I must have walked 3 miles this morning, I thought. I will just take a short one. It’s no big deal if I skip a day… Twenty minutes later, I was on my treadmill running. WHY?

So many people start working out and then quit. You know who you are. I hear it all the time. “I started working out a month ago and then I went on vacation and came back to a ton of work and working out was just the last thing on my list. I will try and start up again next week.” I used to be that person. What changed? Honestly, I’m not sure. But I do know this, as I sat on my couch today I asked myself what would make me feel better, a nap or a run? Most days, it’s a run.

This is the problem that a lot of us have: we don’t give proper credit to the simple choices we make every day. If I had chosen to take a nap, I would have felt guilty all day. I would have thought about how I should have run and how I need to do it tomorrow. Those feelings would have sucked up any energy I got taking the nap. It’s a simple choice I make every day that impacts my life a thousand times over.

So what does this have to do with you (because I get that not all of you are runners)? Think about the simple choices you make every day. Do I eat that piece of leftover pizza? Should I have another glass of wine? Take out or homemade dinner? Simple choices that make a huge impact. Tonight when you are getting ready to go to sleep, are mad at yourself for eating the way you did today? For not working out? OR are you happy you walked home from work? Happy you made a salad instead of going thru the drive thru? Simple choices.

There is a brownie that has been sitting on my counter for the past three days. It is left over from a party we attended this past weekend and I had intended to give it to Drew since she helped make them. In the evening after the kids have gone to sleep, it catches my eye. For the past three nights, I have contemplated eating that brownie (sorry, Drew). But, I am happy to say, that it is still sitting on my counter today. A simple choice I have made for the past three days. And as I go to sleep tonight, I will think about my run today and be happy that I did it. After all, it gave me the idea for this blog!

**Yea... probably time to throw out the brownie.