Joel: What Was I Thinking?

I walked 5K tonight. No, the plan didn't start out that way. In fact, I was just going to take a nice relaxing 15-minute 3/4 mile walk and be done. 1 lap at the park and out. No problem.

Then I started thinking.

"Hey, I don't have anything else going on tonight. Why don't I go two laps like I normally do?"

Okay, that was simple enough.

Then I started thinking some more.

"If I can do two laps, I can do three."

As I came to the end of my third lap, I saw the guy who had been sprinting. He was all tired out and looked like he was finished. I asked him how far he had gone. His response was 3.1. I know that's four laps at the track (actually, four laps is 3.16 miles). I told him I was doing the same and was about to start my fourth lap.

So I committed myself then.

But ya know, I have been noticing over the past couple of weeks that the biggest difficulty with the exercise habit (as well as the eating habit) is not the physical challenge. That's big and all, but the biggest problem I have encountered he the psychological one.

It's hard to change who I am. I am a fat, lazy, out-of-shape, ugly 31-year old. Now, I'm in the process of transforming myself into a slightly overweight, athletic, ugly 32-year old. At least that's the plan.

Each time I decide to get off my butt and go work out, my mind is what wants to stop me. It's not my body being tired, but my mind telling myself that my body is tired. I have to beat it into submission. Ugh...