Prove It

Okay, so last night's sleep-all-night plan was a total bust. I was sleeping great 'til 3:30 a.m. when I had some business to attend to, then I lightly drifted in and out of sleep for the next 70 minutes. I hate that. I made a very definitive decision during that bewitching hour, though, and I decided to bag my long run this morning. Ohhhhh, I was very serious. Then, my rational brain found its way through the fog and reminded me that the 3 a.m. hour is never the time to make a good decision. Or a bad one. How 'bout no-3 a.m.-decisions? Anyway, I decided to let it go, and re-evaluate in a few hours.

I finally went back to sleep, and I fell hard. You know what that means -- time to dream! Those are the ones I always remember. This one was running-related again. In this episode, I was evidently participating in a triathalon. Participants had to wait in line for each event, though, and we could see everyone else who went before us on a closed circuit television. I watched as a woman did the long jump. (Hello ... dream. We're not reading to learn here.) While watching, I was getting ready for my upcoming swimming leg. Then, as I stood there in line, this dude looked at my feet (which were bare and ready to swim) and asked how I thought I was ready to run with no shoes on. Crap! On went the running clothes over the swimsuit.

Okay, then there was the moment I was running down the sidewalk when I looked over to see a dude bending over and seemingly pick something up. I immediately assumed he was picking up pennies, and I was bummed to not be on that side of the street. Then it appeared that he was actually pulling weeds from the curb. Oh, and he was barefoot. And, in his plaid boxers. And, nothing else. That was it. Oh, but wait ... that was all real. Yup -- My dream ended with me being in line to run or swim with or without shoes or something. This morning in the real world, barely clothed dude wandered the street doing something at ground level. I'm not even convinced he lived at the home where he was doing whatever he was doing. I tried looking at him out of the corner of my eye, but when he turned and looked my way, I shook my head and hand like I was waving a bug away so of course I might be looking his way. No other reason to look, right? In truth, I also wanted to make sure he kept going about his business and didn't try to get in mine. Pardon my skepticism of the boxer-only dude, but you gotta be alert. And smart. Therefore, no pictures. See? Smart.

I didn't take a picture of the nearby, nasty, no-more-details-about-it opossum, either. But, it was gross.

Clearly, my wake-up decision to run trumped my 3 a.m.-hour decision to not. I wasn't especially looking forward to the run given how I've felt lately, but, for the first time in a very, very long time, I had a need to remind myself that I could do this. I know, sounds weird, right? I wasn't wallowing in self-doubt, but I was working very hard to resist giving up on myself at least for today which is what the thought of not going out there felt like I'd be doing. I'm totally sincere every time I say a slump will pass. But, you've also never heard me say to give up during one. I ultimately decided I'd rather have an "eh" run than none at all.

I also thought that I like fitting into my pants, so getting out there would certainly contribute to that cause. While I don't usually go there, I was pulling out all stops today to get myself out there!

The run itself? Quite good! Very solid for being so tired, and I didn't find my mind wandering to complain even when I totally overshot my turn-around point. I over-shot it by quite a bit, too. Just a total whiff. What happened was I was studying -- and, I do mean very focused -- on this little spot:

It's just a wee corner of a huge grassy area. It was recently mowed showing row upon row upon row of very neat, very straight mower lines. But, this area is too small for the tractor that was obviously used for the rest, so I was "solving" the mower problem (that absolutely no one had because it was perfectly mowed) by picturing how that area needed the go-in-circles-over-itself method instead of back and forth. And, as I was solving that while looking to my right, I missed the marker letting me know to turn around which was to my left. I ran on and kept looking. And, kept looking. And, I finally realized, "Wait ... a ... minute ..." Yeah, I turned around and saw it. I was within two tenths of a mile from it, but that's longer than you think when you're on your feet. Honestly, I was too sleepy to really care, and just picked it up from there!

On my way back, these pretties were smiling at me:

And, these birdies were ignoring me:

And, at the end of my eight miles, a very familiar face was there to greet me!

Hey! I know you and you have all of your
clothes on!! Perhaps you could give some
tips to the dude in the boxers ... he's
probably still out there ...

I showed him my prizes ...

30 more cents!! Just 2 cents shy of $10!!!

... before taking my built-in cool-down walk together!

Most definitely, I'm glad I went. I'm still tired -- have been all day -- but I think the run served me better on the whole than would have another hour and a half of sleep. So, I call that a huge victory! I'm pleased to have reminded myself I have it in me. That was worth something today.

Look around every corner, nook and cranny to not just motivate yourself when you need, but to also support and, frankly, congratulate yourself! Be your biggest fan because you're who you have in the during of such things! We're back at it tomorrow! And, by "we", I intend for that to mean the dog!! She intends for that, too! Have an awesome morning to start off your week, and we'll let you know how ours shakes out!