Willpower

Thank goodness for the power of the mind over the power of the body.  If it were up to my body, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things my mind wants to do.

For instance, last night I hopped on the treadmill with a goal of going for 45 minutes at around a 5.2 mph pace.  For me, this involves a short one minute warm up and then running at somewhere between 6 mph and 5.5 mph (depending on the beat of the music!) until my heart rate gets too high and I have to slow down.  I was able to complete my goal through sheer willpower alone.  After running 2 miles, my legs were burning and my lungs were screaming and I had a very odd sharp pain behind my shoulder blade.  However, I wanted to finish the run SO bad and on my own terms, not my body's.  So I powered through.  I used every trick in the book I knew to keep myself going.

*inner dialogue*

"Becky...you can make it.  Just ignore everything else except that little blinking light that is telling you how far you have to go to make it another 1/4 mile..."


"Becky...you made it another 1/4 mile.  How about just one more?  Then we'll see how you feel..."


(I say this knowing full well that I will be running a whole half mile more after finishing the quarter mile, but perhaps I can trick my body into not knowing that so it won't rebel...somehow this logic works for me)


"Becky...a 1/2 mile isn't realllly so long.  It won't take more than a couple of minutes.  What's that?  You know that it will take at least 6 minutes judging by our current pace?  Nahh....just ignore those numbers.  Only a couple minutes more!!"

This continues for a long time.  But ya know what?  It worked.  I finished my 4 miles (I only stopped to catch my breath once and hopped right back on!) and then cooled off for another 1/2 mile.  For me, this might actually  be a personal best.

I felt like a champion.

I haven't felt like a champion in a long time.

Yay for a much needed self-esteem boost!