The alarm goes off at 4:30 am and my mind says, “Hit the snooze, dude!“.
But my heart says, “Get up and run!“.
I win the battle of the alarm clock and lumber by way out of sleep. I migrate toward the kitchen to start the Keurig and admire it’s blueish glow as I wait for the “Ready” message to appear. Coffee is a ritual, you know.
Before the coffee can be consumed, the mess the dog left has got to be cleaned up. “Great, another delay in getting my run on” I think to myself. Yet I finish the cleaning project and begin to sip on my freshly brewed cup.
I go to get my running garb ready. “Crap, what I wanted to wear is still in the laundry!“.
Seems like every turn this morning is just another reason to say “screw it” and go back to bed. Another hour does sound nice.
“Nope, I’m pushing on!”.
I choose another set of clothes and start lacing my shoes. This goes without error and gives me hope!
I power up the Garmin GPS watch and it begins is study of the sky to find the satellites. “Low Battery” it shouts and quickly dies.
This doesn’t sit well with my obsessive compulsive need to track all of my runs and annoy my friends on Facebook with them. But I have an “Option #2”.
My Nike+ App on my iPhone! All is better.
I strap the iPhone to my arm, start the app and head down the sidewalk to my official starting line.
As the app begins to load, I go to choose the music I need to enjoy during my run. For some unknown “Apple” reason, the iPhone restarts and gives me the phone back. But without any music in the library!
“How can I run without tunes?“.
I did, however, run my first and only Half Marathon without music. What the heck. It’s only 3 miles…
I take off, finish my run and head back home.
Let’s run down the comedy of errors…
- Dog crap
- Favorite running stuff in the drier
- GPS watch dead
- iPhone stole my music
- …and I’m just plain ol’ tired
Yet I still overcame the day’s objections to my run.
I just had to stand my ground and tell myself, “Come hell or high-water, I’m going“. And I did.
So if you face a day like this one and you overcome yourself or your circumstances, the “win” is that much more enjoyable.
No matter how small the victory, it’s still sweet!
It was one of the best short runs for me this summer.
Get started. Don’t quit.
~Uppie
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