The Streak So Far

So today was day#328 in my streak that I randomly decided to commit myself to sometime last year. Why? Several reasons. I never wanted to go back to the sloppy state that I had regressed into for a year or so, I didn't want to be afraid of being hurt, I wanted to challenge myself, and I wanted to continue enjoy running as I did since I was a little girl. The one factor that normally keeps me going under the difficult circumstances - I think of all the various children who suffer in various forms - be it battling cancer, be it the struggles that I have seen my own son go through, be it what my father had to face when he lost his dad at 19, it tends to be my motivation. My pain or struggle is not a patch and I should be able to go on. 

When I first embarked on this streak, the first few days might have been a bit challenging to keep it up each day, but then I sort of settled into a routine, and would go no matter what the time of day. However, the fall tends to be super busy - work, the kids' new routines, and my masters classes these past two years. So, I knew that juggling it would be an issue but juggle I must. So, whether it meant hitting the gym at 5, or whether it meant juggling through the morning routine between making lunch, waking up the kids, getting myself ready to squeeze in a mile or two, or between school and classes, it meant I just had to do it. There were certainly some days that were really hard. 

Some of the hardest days though I think was earlier this week when I was sick. This has been a cough for a week - that is way more than I ever have. Normally my cold lasts for two days. This time, it was not just the cough, the body ache and the weakness. But run I must to keep up my streak. So I did.  The other times it was super challenging was when I was in Colorado for my niece's graduation earlier this month. The minimum temperature was 12 degrees Farenheit. The maximum - no more than freezing point. It was bitterly cold. I only run in the Vibram 5 fingers and am just not used to the cold. Plus time was a factor to be considered. Saturday was busy with the graduation, reception, lunch, post party and dinner. Trying to squeeze in a run seemed almost impossible. So I came up with running up and down the hotel room from one door to the other. I first started with running on the spot but that becomes boring pretty quickly. So I decided to do it this way. It was not only challenging, it wasn't exacly my favorite way to run a mile (yes, I couldn't do more than a mile running up and down the hotel room). But I did it, and felt so much better at the end of it. The next day there was enough time to drive to the gym with my niece's friend who also wanted to work out. So even though we spent the day travelling, we came back to working out. It felt good. 

There will always be hurdles (or almost always) but overcoming those require sheer will power and as long as one is willing to do that, everything else falls in place.