Excuse Me

I went running this morning. I just couldn't help it. I mean, if you are going to go out and do something you haven't done in over four months, you might as well do it on a beautiful morning. So I did. And let me tell you, as far as runs go, this was a good one. It was slow because, well, to be quite honest, one would expect it to be after so much time off. And by off, I mean working incredibly hard doing something I love: working with youth. And of course, I ate the food youth eat. Which made me a little squishy around the middle. Which added to the slowness with which I ran.

But hear me say, these are not excuses. Well, maybe they are. I know I could have worked harder to maintain my fitness this summer, but the truth is, I didn't.  And I could have eaten better. But I didn't. And when I ended the busy summer with a seriously ill husband, I wanted nothing more than to run for some reason. That is what made sense to me. I've run through almost all of the hard parts of my adult life, so I wanted nothing more than to lace up my Asics and hit the road. So while my husband began a regimen to lower his heartrate and bring him back to balance, I began one to raise mine and bring myself back to center.

Here's the thing about the excuses we make: We have a choice to stop making them. But when we stop making them, we better be prepared to do something. There's a saying, "Put up or shut up." Today I chose to lace up and shut up. Life's just better without excuses getting in the way.