Hello I hope day two of DietBet finds you all as sore and wore out as I. Today we all had a choice to sit back and take a day to recuperate or get back out there and embrace the suck. I hope everyone got back out there and killed it. As for me while I didn’t hit the iron or heavy bag I did hit the street.
Running used to be an everyday thing for me, I loved it…well at least I was told I loved it by a large man in a smoky bear hat named Technical Sargent Steindale. Then again I was told I liked a lot of stuff that I really did not. That being said today was a run day for me. I started out with a cold stretch and then hit the road. My goal was half a mile without stopping. I hit that half mile and felt strong so I decided to take it a quarter a mile at a time. By the time I hit one mile in my breath was short, my legs were burning, I was grunting willing myself forward I wanted to quit, but I remembered an inspirational quote for Drill Sargent, “SUFFER IN SILENCE”. I heard this quote for 6 weeks in basic training; it took me six weeks to figure out its meaning. It means relax, loosen up your muscles from your face to your toes. Focus on your breathing, focus on your pace and find that happy place. I began to focus on these things and found the run was starting to become enjoyable again. As my music help drown out the world around me I found myself pushing along another quarter mile and then another until I hit my overall goal for day 2 miles.
I ended my run in my driveway with a 30 minute cool down of stretches and breathing exercises. I embraced the suck while suffering in silence. I hope whoever is reading this will find inspiration in the words of my wise Drill Instructor, who would of thought his words would still be motivating me almost 15 years later.
(Note: Im the guy in the middle in of the pic. On my right is one of my best buddies Keene to my left Stokal)