Day 14 -- Getting, Looking, and Pushing Up
What do you do when you have an up and down day? One that jerks in stops and starts instead of rolling out smoothly? How do I deal with a day like that here in my 21-day blog-a-thon, in which I'm striving to appreciate the here and now, not to wish it was not so much here and was a lot less now?
I try just to think "up."
Getting up, for starters. I didn't want to today, but had resolved to do a 7-mile run, my longest since my last re-injury, in January. But I did get up. Was reminded of one of the lessons of this blogging experience, which is that it is possible to form a habit just by doing something for 21 days. And it's for sure been more than 21 days that I've had to cajole myself out of the sack when I didn't want to move. So it's a habit to override the dread and reluctance and just get up and go. Today I was so happy I did. I jog/walked 7.25 miles on this incredibly clear and fresh morning and was happy to have done it. That's the getting up part.
The looking up part came during another habit-forming activity, that is, flopping onto my back at some point during a run and doing 20 crunches and 50 air-bicycle kicks (that is the official name of that awkward exercise, yes?). That's a habit, for sure. Along with it comes a bonus--a view of the sky, often through leaves. From time to time I've added looking-up photos to blog posts. They always make me smile--mostly because I tend to forget that part of the crunching/biking experience until I'm prone and find myself under a lovely canopy. This time of the year it's great to see the lacy leaves and the pine cones sharing a space in the lightening welkin (great word, welkin).
Pushing up followed on the heels, the shoulders, actually, of the looking up. It's yet another long-built habit to do some sissy push-ups right after I do the lying-on-the-back stuff. I didn't do any push-ups, sissy or otherwise, during my recent injured period. It's taken me about four weeks, at least three times each of those weeks to get the needed strength back in my arms and shoulders so I can go uhh-uhh-uhh 15 or so times before starting to wobble. The wonder of habits!
I try just to think "up."
Getting up, for starters. I didn't want to today, but had resolved to do a 7-mile run, my longest since my last re-injury, in January. But I did get up. Was reminded of one of the lessons of this blogging experience, which is that it is possible to form a habit just by doing something for 21 days. And it's for sure been more than 21 days that I've had to cajole myself out of the sack when I didn't want to move. So it's a habit to override the dread and reluctance and just get up and go. Today I was so happy I did. I jog/walked 7.25 miles on this incredibly clear and fresh morning and was happy to have done it. That's the getting up part.
The looking up part came during another habit-forming activity, that is, flopping onto my back at some point during a run and doing 20 crunches and 50 air-bicycle kicks (that is the official name of that awkward exercise, yes?). That's a habit, for sure. Along with it comes a bonus--a view of the sky, often through leaves. From time to time I've added looking-up photos to blog posts. They always make me smile--mostly because I tend to forget that part of the crunching/biking experience until I'm prone and find myself under a lovely canopy. This time of the year it's great to see the lacy leaves and the pine cones sharing a space in the lightening welkin (great word, welkin).
Pushing up followed on the heels, the shoulders, actually, of the looking up. It's yet another long-built habit to do some sissy push-ups right after I do the lying-on-the-back stuff. I didn't do any push-ups, sissy or otherwise, during my recent injured period. It's taken me about four weeks, at least three times each of those weeks to get the needed strength back in my arms and shoulders so I can go uhh-uhh-uhh 15 or so times before starting to wobble. The wonder of habits!
Today's bonus photo: A mural at the Golden Gate Recreation Center, on San Pablo Ave. It's another "up," this one just good old "up"-beat.
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