Rise and Exercise

In the past 11 hours I have ran 10 miles. Last night I dreamt about running. This morning I rolled out of bed at 5:30 am…to go running. I am about to eat a big breakfast, so later I can go running. Needless to say, I am beginning to feel like running is taking over my life. When I decided to do cross country for Dixie State this year I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
It is painful, discouraging, and hard. But then there are those mornings when it is beautiful, encouraging, and rewarding. That’s what keeps me waking up day after day.
Running in the morning is great because you know you are one of the few people awake at such an hour. Not only that, but you’re also one of the even fewer people awake and being so productive.
There’s nothing like your shoes hitting the pavement while it’s still dark outside, only to keep on running until the sun rises. To keep running while more cars show up on the road. More people groggily roll out of bed. More people are headed to work, to starbucks, McDonald’s… And YOU are still running.
Honestly, cross country is a love-hate relationship but it’s the great days that make all the terrible ones worth the pain.
Because how rewarding would the good days be if it weren’t for the bad ones? That’s what you have to focus on because otherwise no one would get anywhere. You almost have to make your brain forget about the day before and focus on the present. That is something I love about running, it pulls you into the present whether you like it or not. And at the end of the day, all that really matters is that you just keep going.

“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving.”
– Maurice Greene