The Battle of the Monsters

Last night after work I went to my church to go support my husband at a Cub Scout Banquet (he's a leader).  The thing about church functions is that they always have food.  Good food.  And a LOT of food.  And not healthy food.  I might also have been starving.  So yeah...I loaded up my plate with some tasty delights (including mac n cheese and Doritos...how how I love them).  I ate a full plate and the instantly regretted my decision.  Immediately the Excuse Monster came out and said:

"Hey, Becky...what's up?  Now that you've eaten that tasty mac n cheese, you totally aren't going to be able to go for a run tonight.  Nope.  You don't wanna go on a run with that stuff sitting in your stomach.  Too bad for you.  Guess you'll just have to go home and sit on your butt."
....

Then my Logic Monster (still a monster because he doesn't always use logic to my benefit) says to me:

"But Becky...you were doing so good on calories.  Now you've totally screwed that up, BUT if you go on a run you can burn some calories and undo the damage.  You better suck it up and just get it done."

So I go home and try to listen to Logic Monster.  When I walk in the door I look at the clock and it is 8:15 at night.  Excuse Monster shows up again:


"Becky...it's late.  Running always keeps you up and you need your beauty sleep."


"Becky...it's REALLY windy outside.  You don't wanna have to deal with that.  Just stay home."


"Becky...it's dark outside and Hubster is too busy playing with his new video game headset to want to run with you today.  Your regular body guard isn't available.  You'll have to run ALL BY YOURSELF and you will get stolen by some stranger in the night."

Let's just say Excuse Monster was really working overtime...but then Logic Monster popped in for a brief second to say:


"Hey Becky...you only were going to run 2 miles.  TWO MILES.  That will take you just a bit longer than twenty minutes.  That means you'll be done before 9 without issue.  Plus, you really need to catch up on those miles you missed from being sick."

So I walked to my room and started at my running clothes.  And continued to stare.  I just kept looking at them waiting for the Excuse Monster to come back.  It didn't, but Logic Monster came back and gave me my final push:

"Becky...you've NEVER regretted going for a run.  Just go do it."

And I did.  I put on my clothes, and once I did I felt like a champion.  I told Hubster I'd be running around the block and stepped outside to run my 2 miles.  But then I got a half mile in and said "Ya know what...I can do more than 2 miles.  Let's do 3 today," and kept running.  And I kept running and ended the run with 4.1 miles.  It wasn't necessarily an easy run (I would like to go on the record right now and say Doritos burps during runs are NOT delightful), but it was a good challenging run that gave me a great sense of pride when I finished.  Did I also mention that it wasn't even a scheduled run?  Tuesday is an "off" day on my training plan, so this was totally a big bonus.  YAY!

Apparently I was really excited to be running.  CHEESE!

Moral of the story?  Put the clothes on.  If you can force yourself to put those workout clothes on, 99% of the time you'll go do the run.  

Which Monster have you been listening to lately?  Excuse or Logic?