DO BETTER versus real person

I'm not perfect. Never have been. Never will be. I like to DO BETTER, but holy crap, I'm a real person. And we all know real people are more fun, right?

In fact, right now as a real person, I am sitting in my sweaty running clothes typing a blog after eating leftover spaghetti and a green smoothie. There is a pumpkin whoopie pie resting on the coffee table in front of me--adding to the dozen or so that I've consumed since Monday night. I keep picking at a scab on my forehead--compliments of being a complete spaz with a curling wand. I should have gone to take my car in for a recall issue in this afternoon, but I'm pretending I forgot.

When my Achilles started bothering me mid-race at Rehoboth a month ago, I honestly thought it was a blister forming. That burning sensation was the same pain. So I was a little surprised that the pain was annoying enough to bench me for a week. And then I got annoyed enough to go to the doctor about it <insert gasp>. It was diagnosed as bursitis. (I'm eating the whoopie pie now.)

I was prescribed some heavy duty Aleve and to take it as easy as I could mentally manage. Doc fortunately knows runners suck at "rest" or "cross-train".

I was cool with it for a bit. Honestly. I had been gogogogo all year and hadn't taken more than a week off of running since 2006 (honeymoon, Disney World, funky calf situation of 2010). The rest was kind of leisurely.

But then I got itchy. Things were better, but not 100%.

I had a few okay runs and I had a few that didn't even make it to the record since they were less than a half mile.

(Done with whoopie pie now.)

Boston training was looming and these 3 milers were not going to cut it. So with the tail between my legs, I decided to join the county rec center that is a mile from my house for 3 months beginning on New Year's Eve. I could DO BETTER and boost my cardio endurance and continue to run as my Achilles allowed.

35 minutes on the bike and 35 minutes on the elliptical and I was scared straight.

Running on January 1st is like, in the code or something. So I laced up and hoped for the best.

It wasn't bad. In fact, it teetered on really good. Feeling all resolution-y and full steam ahead on the DO BETTER bandwagon, I celebrated with a green smoothie.

The real person discovered that while I love avocado and I like green smoothies, bananas make a much sweeter creamy background. (The smoothie I had today was 1000x better.)

The DO BETTER bandwagon was full steam ahead and I was mixing and matching dinners from my amazing January dinner calendar:

That blank space? It was pizza:

January 2nd: I ran again. No twinges.

January 3rd: I ran again. No twinges. My DO BETTER bandwagon happens to like to keep heart healthy. It's a thing. Just ask the Europeans.

January 4th: I went night running. DO BETTER and real person wagered a tiny war. Real person changed awkwardly in her car in a dark high school parking lot while DO BETTER went flying through the night cracked out on endorphins. Real person did a cartwheel in the parking lot during the cool down walk. Really, don't even ask me why. It seemed perfectly logical at the time.

DO BETTER made Hungarian stoup for dinner that night.

January 5th: I ran again. No twinges. Tired legs? Yes. But angry Achilles? Nope!

January 6th: I waited and waited to hear from the LRS to call about my Hoka Clifton order. But I was running out of daylight for a double digit attempt so I laced up the Kinvaras and hoped they'd call while I was out running. You know, Murphy's Law n' stuff.

I was just wrapping up mile 6 when a rush of profoundness smacked me in the face. The real person was happy to be in the moment. There was nothing more that I wanted to be doing at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon than be running on my favorite path. DO BETTER would have told me to pay attention to my pace and not listen to my music so loud. Real person was thrilled for her existence. This wasn't a sacrifice or hard work, this was living.  

I called the LRS when I was done and the shoes had arrived.

January 7th: I took them for a 3 mile spin on the treadmill. They were very marshmallow-y and different from the Kinvaras. But lightweight and easily adaptable. My legs were understandably tired from the 10-miler, but the Achilles didn't chirp a bit.

January 8th: The snuggles were intense last night at the Liebowitz castle. It got into the low teens and these dogs are wusses.

But I wasn't. I got all bundled up and headed out for 5 miles. It was chilly, but sunny. The cold honestly didn't bother me much. I was excited to wear my new tights, new shoes, my Marshall hat, and leave my gloves on the entire run.

The wind was ferocious last night and the sweet gum trees lining the Greenway were shaken to the core. Stupid little sweet gum balls littered the path and I thought for sure I was going to face plant.

(Not my picture, but so you get the idea in case this is not a tree in your region.)

Half of my run was dodging those little things. Every time my Garmin buzzed, I was kind of amazed since I felt like I was hopping about in slo-mo.

Anyway, I'm not sure where I'm going with all this. DO BETTER is happy to be doing some goal-oriented running. I can hopefully start getting some quality Boston workouts in soon. Real person is like, let's go eat another whoopie pie and shut and run.