For those of you that actually read my journals, you are well aware I’ve made New Year’s Resolutions this year. That is significant because I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. But as Resolution #2 is Break My Own Rules, I thought I’d start with making some decisions about my life. Specifically, my health.
If you’ve stumbled upon my journal (and are still reading) let me quickly catch you up with the other two readers. You will find here on my website that I am, like most people, human. I say most people because I do believe in alien encounters and, well, I don’t really know you. With that said, you’ll discover that I have concerns over relationships, work, my health, and the world around us. I’m sure you have those concerns, too, only about you, and not me.
Though I’m small in size, I do experience weight gain and loss, just like anyone. I mostly eat well, and then go through periods where I don’t. I honestly don’t know of anyone who eats well 100% of the time. Heck, I don’t know anyone who is perfect 100% of the time. Do you? I didn’t think so. Human, right?
So all of this is just a really long way of saying that I decided to make Resolutions this year primarily to focus on my health. And today, I kind of feel like I’m kicking ass. And losing belly.
My health goals are two-fold. First, lose some excess weight. I try to be diligent about living a balanced life. I try to have healthy work/life balance, and I try to have a healthy eating/exercising balance too. But…I’m human. And the past 18 months or so haven’t been great with the eating and exercising. Cue the shouts of “Happy New Year!” My determination struck during the final month of the calendar year, and so here we are. Lose some excess weight.
My other health goal is get more fit. I say more because I am generally more fit than a lot of people I know. But therein lay the problem with me…I wasn’t challenging myself. That’s beginning to change.
As of today I’ve logged 100 miles of physical exercise. Most of those miles have come from a new running regimen that I’ve been faithful to for the past 52 days. Some of those miles have come from adventures up in the mountains. Mile 91 to 100 came today on a solo trip to the 10,064 ft summit of Mt. Baldy.
Solo. That was a first for me. Usually I have a partner, my buddy Brett, but family obligations prevented him from joining me. I’ve felt so good during my training, and really had my heart set on being in the mountains this weekend, that last night I told my wife I had decided to go alone.
Of course, alone is a relative term. Today was one of the busiest days I’ve experienced on the mountain, and I was joined on the trail by nearly a hundred people either heading up or coming down. But today I didn’t have another voice telling me to keep going or another pair of eyes to see that maybe I should stop and take a break.
Today was a mental challenge.
Physically I felt AMAZING. But hiking to the top of a tall mountain is hard, and undoubtably there comes a moment when the inner voice tells you to quit. That was what today’s training was all about, silencing that Inner Quitter.
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not encouraging myself or anyone else to ignore the warning signs of distress. That voice isn’t the Inner Quitter, that voice is the Inner Survivor. No, the Inner Quitter is that voice that reminds you how comfortable you were at 5:30 this morning before you dragged yourself out of bed. Or how nice it would be to curl up on the couch and finish reading that book you’ve started. Or watch that movie you’ve been waiting to watch. Or a million other things. You know the voice. You’ve heard it.
I heard it this morning too, but you know what? It wasn’t very loud. It was almost as if all of this training I’ve put in has made that Inner Quitter lose something. As I’ve gained more OOMPH, that Inner Quitter has lost his.
These past few weeks haven’t been easy. I’ve gone for runs when I haven’t wanted to. I’ve lifted weights or tossed a medicine ball around when I’d rather be doing something else. But I’ve done it, and each time I do it gets easier than the last.
I reached the top of the mountain today in the fastest time I’ve ever reached that summit. My total time today was less than it took me to reach just the top my first time. I’m exceeding expectations I didn’t even know that I had.
Now that I’ve reached 100 miles, and things have gotten a little easier, it’s time to step it up a bit and challenge myself more. Longer or faster runs. More weight. Longer training sessions. Now that I know what I can accomplish, it’s time to discover what I’m capable of.
Greg Morton 