Not Optional.

5-10-12 - Doubt and laziness were waging their war on me tonight. After school, my day got to be pretty busy. I had to run errands with my day - going to Auto Zone, Kroger, Hammond's Fishing Center, and Publix. And somewhere between all that I had to find the time to eat dinner, and make my friend the Birthday Cupcakes I had promised him. (My cupcakes are kind of a big deal to all my friends). So when I get home I have a headache, and need to complete all these tasks, and I immediately start to think "Well, do I really need to go today? I don't really feel that great today..."
And the answer it YES. I need to go every day unless something I cannot get out of comes up. When I start Basic Training, I can't just say.. "Oh, I don't feel like doing what I need to do today." That is just not an option. So I will have to physically push myself while running as well as mental push myself to actually get it done.
So...
When I got home from running errands I whipped up the cupcake batter and put it in the oven so I could go over to Little Mill Middle School to run around their parking lot. Little Mill is very close to my house, and running around the outside of their oval shaped parking lot 4 times is one mile. We used to run it at track practice in 7th grade.
The weather was just as yesterday's was, so running was a bit easier. I have to consciously make myself breathe right so I don't do that whole 'fish out of water' thing, but today I tried to push myself. Whenever I got tired, I'd tell myself to just run a little more. "Run to that stop sign, then you can stop and walk." I also have a problem with slowing down on the last stretch of my fourth lap instead of trying to finish it off fast and give it my all at the end. So on my 4th lap today, I came around the last curve and forced myself to sprint to my water bottle. I just kept telling myself.. "Don't slow down, run to the water!" And I skimmed 13 seconds off yesterday's time! I'm still at an 11 minute mile, but those 13 seconds made a really huge deal to me.
I was also listening to Katy Perry's song "Part of Me" and in the music video she joins the Marines and it's all about her going through Boot Camp after her boyfriend cheats on her. The video also features real female Marines. This song is inspiring to me, and the video is really BA. I suggest you give it a watch :)
So now I'm sitting in my room relaxing after icing all the cupcakes, and I'm watching Walk The Line - my favorite movie of all time.
I pushed myself through doubt and laziness and I pushed myself during the run. I'll take this as a treat from God. :)