Running, and My Own Best Friend

Running Update:
I ran a mile the other day before I got those horrible too-fast cramps, and walked a mile home. I have been very consistent with yoga and weight training recently. I realized that none of the plans I have had for my running schedule have really been all that effective, as follows: running after work I usually come up with an excuse, such as, I’m exhausted. Running when I wake up at 6 is pretty much impossible as I am always hungry and really good at sleeping in. Running when I get home is not very safe as it is dark then and I do not feel comfortable in my neighborhood.

So, none of these work as I have not been running, and my greatest challenge is consistency/dedication. So I thought about the times in my life when I have been MOST dedicated to running and what I was doing that made my consistency spot-on. These times were, when I started running febbie summer and woke up at seven and went straight out the door day after day after some crunches so I could get to class on time, and the summer after graduation, when I woke up and drove to the gym at seven to get a workout before going to my job. So, the similar traits are: morning (but not terribly early), there was someplace I had to be after, and there was some sort of buffer between waking up and running.

BINGO! I went to bed early last night and went in to work at 7 today so I had an hour before work to run. THIS WORKED. Well. VERY well. I get to eat breakfast and have coffee, I get to go home and have my run behind me. I do get a little nibbly a bit early but that’s fine, I just need snacks (I love snacks). So… this leaves my evenings free. Another problem.

I really hate that my evenings have become devoted to television because I have nothing else to do. So, I decided to BRAINSTORM what I would rather be doing instead, and this is what it looks like:

Hiking, coloring, cooking, yoga, friends, organizing, goal setting, sanding wood, sailing, learning something, growing things, short runs, reading, taking apart a car engine, planning, walking a dog, grocery shopping, crosswords at a bar, writing, coffee-shop dawdling, long runs, long walks, swimming, earning money, hearing music,

Ok.. so what do these have in common? THEY ARE NOT TELEVISION!! I do love my stories, and do find that often they are good for me (inspiration, take the place of oral story telling from ancient cultures,), but NOT ALL THE TIME.

So I am breaking down that brainstorm into categories:
Outside
Creativity
People
Learning
Food
Future
And I am sure they can get more generally grouped. The concept is that. Since I work very well with schedules because I break them so easily, I will assign one day of the week to each pursuit. Such as, Mondays I will learn to cook something new, Tuesdays I will spend the evening outside, Wednesdays I will spend working on planning/organizing/researching internships/working with alums, etc. and perhaps volunteering in the future, Thursdays I can spend making something like a picture or a terrarium or when the weather is nicer, shelves. And Friday works well with spending with people. This is loose, not set yet, and certainly malleable.

But I kind of like the idea!

I read a great article today by yogini Sadie Nardini (I have many thoughts on this woman) on yogajournal that was about your core strength, and how it is not the outer abs that she is referring to, but instead the long line of inner-ness that goes from your legs up through your spine. This translates to a need to be limber and deeply within, a focus on your inner self that was illustrated by her buying flowers for herself on valentines day. I am a HUGE proponent on self-kindness, but I think recently I have been not so kind in letting myself pool into a bored and boring grumpy girl. One thing I have come to consider whenever I get in a funk, which Sadie brings up in her article too, is “what would we do if we treated ourselves the exact same way we treated our best friend” because honestly, we should be our best friends, and are really the one person we spend our entire lives with. I certainly would not let my best friends sit around and drink and watch tv if what they would rather be doing is climbing mountains.