Randon Thoughts or Regret and a Workout: 9/2

July.  I can't get past the utter wretchedness of the month.  The thought of it makes me boil with anger, but I am getting back to a point where I have a degree of confidence in my workouts.  And, honestly, July's illness did one very important thing by showing me just how much running means to me.  How essential it is to my existence.  The entire time I was ill, my mind was fixated on getting better so that I could run.  Even now as I am dealing with this post flu asthma, all I can dream and hope for is finally getting back to the point where I can run normally.  It took me so long to realize how much I love running and to get  mentally strong enough to embrace it -- I don't want to waste a single day.

 It is sad to think of the time that I spent day dreaming of running.  It is even worse to think of the years that I neglected my body.  And, I can't help but to wonder where I would be today if I had only had the courage to start running when I was younger.  I am sure that had I started running at an earlier age it would have made my a more confident and disciplined man.  Granted, I understand that discovering running and the peace of mind and utter joy it brings me now is also having a profound effect upon me and an important transformation.  Regrets are a powerful force in our lives and most often people allow them to weigh them down, but I honestly refuse to allow that to happen to me.  I have my regrets and think of them often, but I look at my regrets as fuel for action and change.  I hate myself for not having taken to running earlier.  I can remember watching runners with an awe and wishing that I could run like they did, but always thinking I was to fat and slow.  But that regret isn't going to cripple me.  That regret is going to be what forces me to get up at 4:30am take to hits off of an inhaler, eat some toast and an orange, drink a cup of coffee, and hit the road.  Regrets are my fuel, not my anchor.

Workout -- 12 days of Christmas

1. Lap around the indoor track (1/15 of a mile)
2. Step up (each leg)
3. Bird Dogs
4. Russian Twits (with 6lb weighted ball) 
5. Push ups
6. Bicycles
7. Dips
8. Prisoner Squats (with an elbow to knee leg raise on each side)
9. Side oblique crunches (each side)
10. Crossover Crunch (each side)
11. Fire Hydrants
12. Lunges w/ 12lb weighted ball (each leg)

This is one of my favorite songs to listen to while running.  I just puts me in a very peaceful frame of mind and forces is me to realize the power of seemingly insignificant choices.