Getting Out the Door Is the Hardest Part

Sometimes inspiration just comes out of nowhere and that is what happened as I tried to think about something to write about this week.  I was off work all last week and was hoping to get a lot more running in than I did.  It turned out that even after being thankful for being injury free last week, I have a sore knee right now and I'm giving it a little rest.  I still ended up running almost 24 miles last week but it was spread out over more runs that I normally would have done during a normal week.  I survived the Thanksgiving holiday too without gaining any weight and that's a good thing.

I know I have talked about motivation in previous post and that is the main reason I continue to keep this blog and the fact that it keeps me accountable for what I do.  A couple of weeks ago I didn't even post and I could have used that as an excuse to just quit and not blog anymore.  I got back on it and here I am.

This can be applied to many areas in our life but since this is my running blog I will cover it with that in mind.  Just because you don't run for a few days doesn't mean that you can't pick back up where you left off.  You need to keep a positive attitude because it's easy to just say, "Well, I missed yesterday so I'm just going to take another day off."  That was one of the things I was struggling with this past week.  Every time I ran my knee would start to hurt.  Sometimes it was 3 miles into my run and sometimes it was even farther out.  I would take the next day off and rest.  The next day would roll around and I used the cold as an excuse not to get up early and run.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to run 350 so I just stayed in bed.  The more I thought about it, the more a knew I needed to get a run in.  I ended up waiting until after 3 o'clock and put my running clothes on and headed out the door.  That saying "Getting out the door is the hardest part" is true.  If you have started a routine and have slipped a little, get back out there.  Once you warm up and get into your "happy place" then you'll be glad that you did.

Another area that you can apply this to is dieting.  Although I don't follow a diet (I call it a lifestyle), it is easy for me not to make good choices.  When I go out to eat, I try to determine beforehand what I'm going to order and stick with it.  Sometimes though, I get in the restaurant and change my mind and I order something else that isn't good for me.  Does that ruin the whole week?  No! I just pick right back up where I started and when I eat next, I choice something that is good for me.  Just because you wreck one meal doesn't mean you have to wreck the whole day or week.

If you are planning on starting a healthier lifestyle at the beginning of next year, you should make today the start.  I hear people say, "I'll start tomorrow" or "I'll start next week" and I say, "Why don't you just start right now?"  It seems tomorrow or next week just never gets here for them.  You can start today and make a big difference between now and January 1, 2013, and you will be that far ahead of the game.

Thanks for stopping by again this week and I'll see you again next week.