I’m a huge advocate of running. Well, duh, this place is called Running Candid after all. I run. Sometimes injury prevents me from running. Laziness too. Hell, I’m human, I’m allowed to let the nasty side win from time to time. Regardless, running remains an important part of my life. I love it. I hate it. I can’t imagine going without it. If someone said to me tomorrow, you have to stop running. I…would…be…devastated. I’d cry. I’d whine. I’m not sure I could get over it. I’d try to find a way to run again. That doesn’t mean that I have to run every day though. I make excuses. I make choices.
Excuses are a part of life. We make excuses for not cleaning up, for forgetting to pay the power bill, neglecting to take your sweet dog for a walk, running late because you had a few too many the night before, for not going to the gym because it’s too far to drive or you don’t have the right workout gear, or not enough time. It’s all baloney.
We all have choices. The great thing about choices is that we can change them. If yesterday or for the past ten years you’ve chosen not to run that’s fine. Tomorrow, you can change and start with a walk, add a 10m run, then 20m, then 100, then a 1000m. That one different choice can make you into a runner.
You can choose to opt for eggs on toast for breakfast instead of the cereal you saturate with a few teaspoons of sugar. You can choose to have a glass of water with your lunch instead of a can of cola.
You can choose.
What I like about choices is that you don’t have to make the same one everyday. I mean really, no one, and I mean no one makes the perfect choice everyday. Perfection is subjective anyway.
Yesterday instead of going to the gym after work, I chose get into my pj’s, get comfy in bed, watch a couple episodes of ‘Person of Interest’, down two glasses of red, eat several crackers with olive dip, half a camembert, and a few too many Guylian chocolates. Today I chose to hit the gym for an hour and do weights and thirty minutes of intervals on the treadmill. I ate well for most of the day. I don’t feel guilty about indulging the night before.
Choices. We all have them. They will depend on how we feel on each given day. If we make the right choice about our health and fitness every other day or five out of seven days we’re going to be better off than those who assume the only way to become stronger, faster, healthier or *insert whatever you’re after* is to go 100% at it. Aim for 50% and go from there.
It’s a choice that only you can make.
