Push It

I'm a competitor. Not in the way my husband is, where every board game is serious business and losers need not participate.

I'm my own worst competition. But I mean that in a good way. You'll see.

I awoke this past Saturday morning determined to take a rest day. I'd worked out five days already for the week, my body was kinda sore and as a bonus, I didn't even have to go to work. But as usual, once I got out of bed and was moving around, I was really craving exercise.

Do people really do that? Really? I was, and it's still weird.

So I got changed and hit the treadmill with my music cranked to full volume. But it only took me about thirty seconds to realize that I'd forgotten about a very important component of my plan.

My inhaler.

I pushed through, completing a mile in 15:30 and staggered to the kitchen to get a hit. After I regained my sense of balance and could take a deep breath, I posted to FB that I got it done but "no record broken today".

My friend Steph immediately jumps on with "Cut yourself some slack! You don't have to break a record every time!" And my response was "Don't you know me at all? Of course I do!"

I was only kidding. Except when I realized I wasn't.

I've become such a black/white thinker through this process that if one mile is good, two is better. If under fifteen minutes for a mile is good, closer to fourteen is better. If 100 calorie pudding is good, sixty calorie pudding is better.

You get the idea.

And it bugged the crap out of me that I let that mile go for 15:30. Even though pushing myself to go faster without the ability to breathe could have been disastrous. And that's not an exaggeration.

I did take a rest day on Sunday but then Monday, I tried the treadmill again, remembering my inhaler this time. I've covered the time display with masking tape trying to focus on distance rather than time and when I get to .98 mile I take the tape off to see just what the time is when I cross to the mile.

First mile Monday? 15:07.

Fine, but not really good enough.

After five minutes rest, I went for a second mile and completed it in 14:43. And blowing the doors off that, I completed my second mile today in 14:07.

Who knows where we can go from here.

And I know, Steph, you meant for me to not be so hard on myself. And I'm getting better at that, but at the same time, you provided me with a challenge that eventually my body will be thankful for. Thanks!

Thirteen-thirty, here I come.