I am Crushing Your Head

Does anyone remember the show Kids in the Hall? This was a Canadian sketch comedy with 4 guys in it. I loved watching the show. It was very funny and unusual. There was a head-crusher on it who pretended with fervor that he was really crushing people's heads. And he had a funny accent which made it just that much funnier. What does this have to do with anything? Well, today I crushed the head of the lack of motivation. I have been definitely feeling less motivated than usual but do find that once I finish whatever it was that I lacked motivation for, I feel much better. Mostly, this can be linked with running and training in general. I know I have to get up for work, I know I have to cook and eat meals and I know that tomorrow, I have to go to the dreaded dentist. But I don't have to run or go to the gym, it's just that I know that I like to do that. Finding the motivation for this has been a struggle the past few weeks. But today, I took a turn and crushed the bobble head called UN MOTIVATION. I don't really know how I did it, but I know when it happened. My alarm went off this morning at 5:15 AM. I was prepared to make one of the following decisions. 1) Get up and go swimming. 2) Get up and do some strength training or 3) Go back to bed. So, I sat there, upright in bed with my eyes closed envisioning me doing each of those activities. I had a strong inclination to go back to bed but I thought, well, I'll just get up and brush my teeth and then, if I really want to go back to bed, I will. I actually have got up, brushed my teeth, go dressed for some activity and then gone back to bed, so I know this deal with myself was not flawless if I was really going to do option #1 or #2. As I was brushing my teeth, still with my eyes closed, I was trying to figure out how I could shuffle things around this week if I did go back to bed....so I could still get in the running and cross training. I was stressing myself out and I hadn't even had my eyes open for more than a minute total. This is when I turned the corner. I thought to myself, seriously, is it really that bad to just get UP and go to the gym? NO!!!! It is NOT!!!! And suddenly, I felt motivated to go. I went. I did some strength training and I was so motivated that I worked myself pretty hard; jumping rope, doing burpes and a few other maneuvers that got my heart rate up. I was feeling good! Then I went to work and when I got home, I was so excited to go for my mid-week run. I had a great run, it was so beautiful out, a perfect night for running. I took Struth of course, he seemed to have fun as well. I did the same loops as last Wednesday and I finished 5 minutes faster than last week. WooHoo. So, sometimes, as quickly as motivation can leave you is as quickly as it can come back.

Just a quick recap of the very nice weekend in Seattle....lots of fall colors still remain, but mostly with the fallen leaves that coat the ground. Friday, after a swim with HPT, my favorite person to swim with, (Bob is up there too!) and some wimpy weights, I went for a walk with Struthie and Bob around Madison Park...um...lovely. Then Saturday, back to Madison Park so Struthie could swim and Sunday, off to Tiger for an awesome trail run. Perfect conditions and the perfect company-my faithful companion and my long time running partner...Struth. One of my favorite things on the trail is to see him running in front of me with his tail high in the air waggin'. He enjoys the trails as much as I do, maybe even more. Some photos of the weekend!