Goal Weight: 195 lbs
Today’s Weight: 204.8 lbs
On April 28th, I weigh in at the SuperTalk Health & Fitness Expo at the Trademart. I have to weigh less than 200 lbs. So I’m in the final push.
This morning, I “only” ran 4.25 miles in the neighborhood. My course had 11 hills on it, some of them quite long and steep. No, I’m not an idiot. In fact I added those hills on purpose. One of the joys of having a GPS watch is that I can run wherever my heart desires. The watch keeps up with my distance. So I usually alter my course while I’m out on it. Today, I attacked every single hill I could find. Why? Because they seemed like an excellent metaphor for life. So why not. What? You just said, “because they are hard to climb.” Well, you have a point. I used to avoid them. I have a two-mile course in my neighborhood that is fairly flat. I could have run it a couple of times. But hills have taught me a lot about attacking challenges.
First of all, we don’t like doing what we don’t like doing. I know, I know — no @#$% Sherlock, right? My lesson from hills is that you have to attack the things you hate to ever grow stronger. I used to hate hills. Now I realize they make me stronger.
Second, you don’t obsess about running hills. (Or any other upcoming problem.) Trust me on this one — I’m famous for worrying about having to do something until the point where I burn more energy worrying than doing. Or worse — I procrastinate and do a half-butt job. Attack the hill.
Third, well, third is that you don’t take on the whole hill at once. You mentally break it into pieces. Me? I go from driveway to driveway. “If I can just make it to the next mailbox” and then I rinse and repeat.
Fourth and finally, savor the victory. I love getting to the top of one hill in my neighborhood because I can see the lights of Jackson and the hint of the looming sunrise. The view is amazing. And if I had avoided what was “difficult” I would have missed out on the reward.