Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Decisions

A potential-newbie-runner said this to me:

"I was going to go to the shoe store, but something happened. I think I took a nap."

Ahhh. Yes. The "nap". It seems really weird that so often the choice comes down to napping or running. If you're a morning runner, extending sleep looks mighty temping most mornings. If you're a daytime runner, that 30-45 minutes would be PERFECT for a little feet-up time. And evening runners... well those people are just nuts. Or not parents. Or really REALLY lucky to miss the 4-5pm witching hour.

**But yes, Jedi, "Do. Or Do Not. There is no try." The Nap or the Run. I would argue that napping does not reflect poorly on you. But running when you feel like napping is one of the things that makes a person a capitol R = Runner.

I trained for a marathon during the first year of my son's life by exclusively forgoing "sleeping when the baby sleeps" and relishing a two hour run. At some point in the development of a Runner they realize that they actually feel BETTER after running than they do after napping.

Case in point: I had a bad day. The kind of bad day that ended with me curled up on top of the blankets on my bed with tears in my eyes. Stephan took one look and told me to get my shoes on.

"No. Leave me here. I need to wallow."

He wouldn't take wallowing as an alternative. He pressed the shoes against my hands, threw headphones at me, and told me to just get out of the house. I pouted. I have a permanent crease in my forehead because of how devastatingly mopey I was. But, yeah, I did it. I ran the hell out of 2 miles. And I felt great when I got home.



**Edited to input an actual quote from Star Wars because my husband had a small seizure when he read my original "pathetic attempt" and misquotation. He's fine now. Not to worry.



2 comments:

Ali K. said...

It's amazing how much a run can improve a bad mood. I'm glad your husband was so insistent!

... said...

It was for his own good- I think he just couldn't deal with my attitude the rest of the night :)