RUN IT LIKE A BOSS

RUN IT LIKE A BOSS

Run it like a boss! That is my approach to exercise. Why run if you can’t do it fast or far? Why lift weights if you can’t lift heavier and for more reps each week? Why do a workout video if it isn’t intense enough to make you want to collapse? Unfortunately, my body doesn’t want to do much of anything like a boss anymore, unless it is sleep. I can really sleep like a boss!

In my insane desire for perfection, I have used running as a means to improve my body, prove I can accomplish difficult goals, and to find a few moments of quiet and sanity in this hectic life (hectic, of course, because of my own expectations for how everything should be). With age, I’m finding I better give myself some grace to not have a perfect body and to not beat some crazy goal or I will be one broken down woman very soon. I was doing pretty well with taking things easier by letting go of hitting a fast pace for each mile covered. I justified this to the insane perfectionist in my head by determining I would make up for it by increasing the miles… because, you know, you can’t actually just do something without doing it to the highest levels. (Be sure to read that last sentence with a healthy dose of sarcasm.)

After a 12.4 mile training run, I realized that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay to give this body a break. So, the next day, I did an hour and a half work out video with my co-workers…..See? A break. I laugh at myself now, but not too hard because it hurts the muscles in my aching body to laugh.

Getting ready for work a week later is still a challenge. The plantar fasciitis in my feet makes it incredibly difficult to get to the bathroom to start the morning routine. Picture little knives stabbing into your heels while you walk, but add incredible stiffness to it. My knee hurts as I get up and down, while I bend it to put on clothes, and going downstairs. Now, for the really fun one- my arms. It is incredibly hard to lift my arms high enough to wash, brush, or style my hair and put on or take off shirts. In my effort to take a “break”, I busted my arms during the stupid workout video. My triceps have decided that they have had enough of my insanity, and they are on strike. They yell at me every time I try to use them.

So, there is a new boss in town, and it is not the insane perfectionist in my head. It is my aching body. I am taking a real break. Sometimes the boss runs it by sitting back with a cup of hot chocolate and her feet on the desk.

Have you ever pushed life too hard? Tell me about it in the comment section below.