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T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f C h i c a g o J o

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WWAD? :)

2007-01-19� � 6:24 p.m.
While listening to Internet radio, I�m realizing how much someone I�ve met only briefly influences and encourages me.

Whenever I get exceptionally grumpy, I step back and think about how my thoughts and behaviors are putting me in that mindset. Further, I consider what I can do to make changes at that particular moment to influence my current mood. I also strive to remember that I can�t get others to do what I want, no matter how right I am and annoying they are. I�m getting better and better at recognizing the power of choice.

Besides the take-action charges, Abel also influences how I run. Two things that he�s previously mentioned stick out in my mind: six-hour marathoners, and how he runs every morning and allows himself only one day per week to sleep in.

Right now I�m actually training for the marathon I have in April. No matter the situation, I don�t think that I�d come in anywhere near six hours for my 26-mile jaunt, but the article he linked and talked about mentioned how people were just going out there and running the races. The article essentially said that walkers being able to say that they finished a marathon were essentially taking away the glory of actually training for and running a marathon when they finish in six, seven, eight hours.

Although I�m all for people getting off their butts and doing something -- hell, anything -- in the name of fitness, what he wrote hit on something: In the marathons I�ve run, none have been spectacular in any way. My first Chicago race hit a bump at mile 23 when I bonked. No more carbs = no more energy = no more running. I know that I kept moving, but it could not have been pretty in terms of athletic prowess. My second marathon came a mere ten days after suffering a concussion, so I can�t really complain about any slowness I encountered there. Neither was anything to herald, and I�d like to turn that around in DFW.

That�s where the second entry that I think about comes in, and I�m all out of excuses for not training.

�I�m cold� -- Utah is also quite frosty.

�I don�t have time� -- Ha! Try working all day and then coming home to help raise three kids under three years old.

�I�m tired� -- Riiiight. Because I�m up at 3 a.m. to give my daughter a bottle.

�I�m sore� -- Okay, I don�t know how he�d handle that. But I�m betting he�d tell himself to suck it up and get to shakin�.

Now, add to it that he has a nice, warm (and beautiful) wife in bed with him... Talk about being motivated and giving a needed kick each morning to get out of bed, face the winter winds, and clock in several miles!

Post-amoebas and vacation adjustment, I�m now back in the swing of things. I�ve been at the gym most evenings, and I am regularly running in the cold at night. The other night I had to laugh as I ran along the lakefront path, my footsteps immediately being covered by the falling snow, the large flakes hitting and stinging my cheeks, and the ridiculous amount of clothes I had layered on to protect me from the elements.

But really, I might wear four layers, come up with excuses that I talk myself out of using, and say the F-word when the alarm rings at 5:15, but I�m still up, saluting to the southwest skies, and thanking Abel for making me get up, get out, and get better at the things I aim to accomplish.

Thanks Abel. �



Miss something?

Moving Day - 2008-02-15
Working from Home is Glorious - 2008-02-13
Speaking in Tongues - 2008-02-07
I Have My Reasons - 2008-01-25
Got an Itch, Fix it, Shine it Up, Sing it Out - 2008-01-23

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