Thursday, April 21, 2011

Motivation

While at work do you ever think, "I'd really love to be home writing," but when you get home you're too tired/distracted to write? You'd rather watch TV or sleep or some other mindless drivel? Yeah, I have this problem, too. Often. Usually Monday through Friday and sometimes on the weekends when I really get lazy. However, I learned something today to beat that attitude and it came from my running lesson.

I'm a new runner. Nearly 39 years old and never wanted to run, never could run when I tried. But a couple friends encouraged me to enroll in a runner's training program, so I did. (Sad thing is, both of them had to drop out due to health issues. ;-( So for the past 7 weeks, I've been working up to longer distances and faster times. It hurts. It's hard. I LOVE IT!

Today, for the first time, I ran 3 1/2 miles non-stop in 38 minutes. Nothing record-breaking, but decent. What did I learn from this?

The first mile is the hardest. I feel like my knees are going to shatter every time I step. My lungs keep threatening to burst, my eyes sting from the sweat, and sometimes my feet or legs try to cramp up. But I keep going. The second mile my body quits hurting and I can feel the tension rolling off of me (or is that sweat?) Either way, I feel strong, confident, and able to continue. So I try three. At three, I'm starting to tire so I really have to work on picking up my toes and heading forward, not leaning back. It's a contest between my mind and my body...which will give out first? When the muscles in my legs start tightening like a rattler around a rabbit, that's when I pick a spot and quit. I'm done.

In relation to writing, I have to start to get anywhere. Simple concept, hard to do sometimes. It's that first paragraph or first page or first chapter that's daunting, but once I'm past that, I can feel the flow of the writing pouring through my fingers. There is a point, though, when my concentration wanes and I have to make a decision: am I being lazy or am I really tired enough that I need to quit? So at that point I need to make a goal, write to that point, summarize what comes next, then go to bed. Start again in the morning.

(yawn) So I guess if I'm continuing the writing metaphor, this blog entry was my warm up. Here's to the first mile tonight! ;-)

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