So This is Love... Mmmhmmm Mmhmmmmm

 I like to go for my run a bit later on Tuesdays since it's Jeff's day off & I'm not in a hurry. My alarm began its Armageddon-blaring alert at 6 this morning, to which I responded by hitting the snooze button. Immediately, my brain began to involuntarily protest.

You stayed up to late; you're too tired to run. Ugh, you can't run while you're on your period. This bed is too comfy. Let's turn off the alarm instead of pressing snooze for the third time. You don't need to go today, you can do it some other time. I finally made myself get out of bed. But it didn't stop there.

Your knee already hurts; you don't want to overdo it. Do you have a bellyache? Let's stay home. Oh, you can work on your crochet or knitting projects. Or we can go back to bed! Let's go back to bed! My brain sure has been programmed to be lazy, sheesh. Each time one of those things popped into my head, I pushed it out, replacing it with something positive. The reason for my mental protests? Week 5 Day 2 of Couch to 5k is a bit of a doozy: eight minutes of running, five minutes of walking, then another eight minutes of running, all sandwiched in between a 5-minute warm up and cool down.

The interesting thing is that it wasn't too difficult to push those thoughts away. Because... well... here's the truth: I love running. You heard that right. I love it. I love the way my lungs feel when they're wide open, sucking in the cool morning air. I love the feel of my bones and muscles working together in anatomical magic to push me forward. I love watching the sunrise against the farming landscape and mountain backdrop. I love the smells: wood burning fires, clean laundry, sticky sweet doughnuts baking, dewy grass, puffs of exhaust (oh wait, that one doesn't go on the list of pleasant smells). I love the way my music keeps me going, or my chats with my sister-in-law help the time pass. I. LOVE. RUNNING. I wanted to learn to love it, and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.

So programmed excuses begone. You're no match for the way I feel about running. I've changed my brain.

How did I feel from today's run? Well... let me tell you. Once I saw the house with the crazy sprinkler (the one about a mile from home that shoots me in the face with excessive PSI), I knew I was golden. I actually had wished there wasn't a 5-minute walking session between the jogging intervals. When I finished the first interval, I couldn't help but smile like a fool. I was damn proud of myself. When the second running interval began, I felt a little slow and stiff at first. I had wished I had kept going, which is exactly what I do on Thursday's run. 20 minutes of non-stop running. I'm going to leave that crazy sprinkler in the dust... along with those ridiculous excuses.