The Wood Stork Excuse

So I’ve signed-up, paid for and reserved the room for the Disney Wine and Dine Half marathon in November.  I’ve committed everything but my body.  I’m currently in the process of blaming the heat.  We recently had tropical storm Isaac blow through here and it’s left a ton water and humidity behind.  Soon the mosquitoes will descent upon us.  This morning I kept trying to get the running cadence going but it just kept stopping and starting like a sputtering lawn mower.  There are Wood Storks everywhere feeding on all the fish jumping around due to the canals being pumped to make room for more draining water.  I see them all the time but today my body felt compelled to stop, rest and admire the storks.  The storks are also just an excuse.  I suffered this morning and felt I just didn’t have a productive run.  With a race in a couple of months, a poor run is more deflating.  Here is what I have decided. 
1.  I got up and ran in 89 degree heat.  That’s worth something. 
 2.  I’m going to stop lamenting poor runs and be thankful that I can get out the door and run.  
3.  I will get up and do it just a little better tomorrow. 
 4.  I will finish 13.1 miles without stopping on November 10^th.
 

Resolve is a powerful thing.   

For tonight, I resolve to have a dinner out with my husband without asking for a kid’s menu.  I will order a margarita.  Tonight we are eating alone.  And tomorrow I’ll eek out some more miles. 

Behold, the captivating (excuse) Wood Stork.  

Running with Rocks

I started a tradition sometime ago that has helped me with my running and probably my mental health too. I run along a dirt road that borders a sugar cane farm. A year ago, I was dealing with a problem. It's funny but I can't remember what the problem was now. I only know that at that time in my life, I was truly affected by it.  I was at the start of the dirt road and I just didn't want to run.  I wanted to wallow in self-pity and feel upset about what was going on.  That's when I looked at the ground and thought about all the rocks on the ground.  I looked at them as my problems.  For that day, I picked up a large rock and started to run.  As I ran, I thought about what was bothering me and turned that rock over and over in my hand.  I hate running with anything extra.  It took a lot for me to start running with a hat on because it felt like it was something to hold me down.  This rock was ever present and a little annoying but it made me really think through what was bothering me.  After 3 miles I decided it was time to turn around and head home. That's when I decided to drop the rock.  I said that as I dropped this rock, I also dropped all the worry and stress that went with it.  I was leaving it behind out there on my run and heading home.  I've done this evertyime I have a problem nagging me.  I now have a nice pile of rocks out there at the mile 3 marker.  For most rocks, I don't know what the problem was.  I know that I truly left the worry out there.  That pile of rocks reminds that no matter how big I think the problem is, in a few weeks, I won't remember what the rock was for.