I always feel in a slump after Christmas but on January 1 my mood changes and becomes what I can only describe as 'optimistic'. No matter what has gone before and no matter how much it is purely psychological I do feel like a New Year is a metaphorical new page. Just like many people, I make my New Year's resolutions and they tend to always read the same.
1. Lose weight and/or eat healthier
2. Get fit
3. Commit to church regularly and/or a bible study
4. Take on a new project to completion...usually one of the books I've started writing.
So no change this year in any of these items on my list.
I stepped on the scales, ate a salad for lunch, dutifully went to church on this New Year's day and opened my Dropbox file on my computer to the notes of my latest book project. But it was that 'other' item on the agenda that has me really challenged...getting fit.
I can't believe I ran a marathon 8 months ago. Not just any marathon at that but THE London Marathon.
And yet, here I am pledging once again to 'get fit'. I have no idea what happened following the amazing high I experienced after the London event. I just ...well...lost the desire or will to run. I've tried...with friends, without friends, with the pressure of a race, without pressure. I've tried forgetting running and getting on my bike instead. I've even tried forgetting about fitness altogether, taking a break over Christmas.
Slowly, during my 'break' I have felt stirrings of desire. I've found myself wistfully craning my neck out of the car window to watch other runners.
Last night I read an article on the Internet about Burn Out...true burnout...when you have over trained and pushed yourself into a sport so much you develop an aversion to it. And the optimistic conclusion to the article was...all is not lost. The general prescription was for remotivation?
So today I added 'running' to my fitness resolution and, furthermore, resolved to find a way to REmotivate myself.
I started small...really small. I made three decisions...
1. To start from scratch and learn to literally love the experience of running again...no pain and no intention to gain
2. To blog my journey because, after all, writing is my most consistent motivator so I reckon to combine it with running will help
3. To run with an aim...not a race or an event or a time or distance schedule but purely to run as part of my daily life...
Here's my first blog (check objective 3). I started with my firt 2k run (very small) but felt every step....the cool, wet air, the darkness that I once loved to run in, the music that helped me when I started and, with today's Deuteronomy passage 'Choose Life' echoing through my head I ran to my friend's house and back to feed her pet for her before my healthy tea.
Tomorrow is another day.
