"The Run" & Other Fun Physical Activities

Below is my Facebook post the day after I began jogging:

"I'm trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft j. I'm not sure but you just run for an extended period of time. It's wild."

Hilarious stuff.  That got me 12 likes so you know it had to be good.  Anyways, during my finals week this past semester, I had a revelation.  I decided that I had to do something to make me a better person, something that would allow me to gain at least one shred of self confidence and something that would give me a goal to work towards.

This is heavy.

What I decided to do was exercise.  It's something that I've always wanted to do more of, but I was embarrassed to begin in front of prying eyes at the gym at school, so I figured that this summer would be as good a time as ever to start.  The day after I came home, I began going for a 15 minute or so run every morning after I got out of bed, and a few days later I began lifting weights and regularly did other light exercises such as push ups and sit ups.  Today, I believe, would be my 34th consecutive run, a feat I'm quite proud of.  

I also got a haircut, which I am starting to believe was one of the best decisions I've made in quite some time.

I briefly touched on all of this before in the final stage of my triumphant return to blogging.

Continued after the break...

The Run

What's great about running is that while I'm doing it, my mind can stay totally focused on the task at hand, and I only continue to become more focused as the fatigue becomes greater and greater.  Any problems or concerns on my mind vanish.  I am solely focused on the run.  For those 15-20 minutes, my problems are gone.  And that only continues when I'm done.

Gasping for breath, sweat dripping from my brow, these are signs that I have accomplished my goal for the day.  Until the pain has subsided, I can feel good about myself.

And the entire process is helped by my kick-ass running playlist I have cleverly titled "Motivation," because who can't be motivated by the obligatory 80's hits of Billy Idol, Van Halen, and Ozzy Osbourne?  But these pale in comparison to the coup de grâce of the playlist:  The cheesy theme songs to the original Mortal Kombat and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.  I don't typically listen to stuff like this, but seriously, how can I not get psyched out of my mind when one of these bad boys show up in the shuffle?

As I mentioned, running is not the only activity I have begun to partake in.  After my daily run, I alternate push ups and sit ups depending on the day.  It isn't much, but it's something.

Pump, Pump, Pump You Up

I also began to lift weights around the same time.  My dad has an old weight lifting set in the basement that I decided to put to good use.  Originally, I started doing 3 sets of 7 curls with 40 lbs. of weight, because I figured it was a small enough amount that I could get the technique down.  After I started, my arms felt like they were going to fall off for the next couple of days.  At one point I wasn't even able to straighten out my arms, and they instead comically rested at an angle.  It kinda sucked.  I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this but I actually moved down to 30 lbs. for about a week just to avoid another similar incident and to become more accustomed to the idea of weight lifting.  

45 lbs. of weight

But with time I got better, and as of today I am now doing 3 sets of 10 with 50 lbs. on a daily basis.  Still not a lot but I know if I keeping working at it I should get up to something much more respectable by the end of the summer.  I also have some other equipment in the basement I'd like to learn how to use just to add some more variety to my workouts.  I'm still new to all of this so I need to figure out what everything does and what all I can do.

50 lbs. of weight

I really think that these decisions have been the greatest that I've made for myself in quite some time.  The lifestyle changes I've made have really worked wonders on my self-image and confidence after only a month.  

Most of all, I'm amazed that I've been able to keep up with it.  That has always been a major problem for me.  In the past I might say that I would try to do something or work towards some goal and would be completely incapable of following through with it.  Hopefully this is just the beginning.  Hopefully this is just the first step to becoming a more confident, motivated, and all around better me.  And for the first time in a long time I can look at myself and be proud that I've found a productive use for my time.