“I’m thinking of hitting the trails for a run in the morning if you wanna join me and catch up,” popped up in my texts Saturday afternoon from my friend and running buddy, Crazy Amy.
Mental head slap. Amy and I have been tag-teaming our running motivation since Covid began. I took a LONG break for most of a year from running as I concentrated on yoga and riding my Peloton bike. Meanwhile, Crazy Amy was hitting the trails on her own running another couple of 50K races and even a 50 mile race!
Just as I was rediscovering my running mojo again over the summer, Amy decided it was time for HER to take a break.
So, needless to say she and I haven’t been regularly hitting the trails together on the weekends like we have in years past. In fact, I hadn’t seen Amy in almost two months!
It was football Saturday and Andrew and I were out doing our thing—watching football and drinking beer Saturday afternoon when Amy’s text arrived.
Darn. I really didn’t have any excuse NOT to run with her. Afterall, I was going to run Sunday morning anyway.
“Hmm. How far?,” I replied.
“10 miles.”
Another mental head slap as I finished my beer making the [smart] decision to make it my last of the afternoon. I would be picking up Amy up at her house at 6am on our way to the trails so no sleeping in for me the next morning.
As usual, Amy and I had a blast on the trails. We saw five deer and the cooler temperatures were perfect for running. I felt so accomplished and proud of myself for saying yes to her invitation on my drive home.
Sometimes in life you just have to do the thing that you maybe don’t want to do in the moment. I knew I would have fun on the trails and I knew logging 10 miles would be a great milestone on my fitness comeback. My only excuse for not saying yes to my friend would have been my sheer laziness.
Similarly, many clients tell me that they hadn’t met with me sooner to plan their affairs because of good ole’ fashioned procrastination. But, after they do get their estate plans in order, they feel relieved that they and their families are protected.
I’m mellowing as I age and improving my running times is not important anymore. I’m just happy to be out there enjoying nature and the comradery of good friends. After all, life is surprisingly short and I want to take full advantage of the time I have left enjoying myself with activities I love and spending time with friends and loved ones.
So the next time you are feeling lazy or procrastinating on something you should or even want to do, just remember to “do the thing” anyway. You’ll feel great about yourself later.
Kristen “Just Do It” Marks
P.S. Flights are booked for our trip to visit our son in Eastern Europe over the holidays! Refundable tickets of course just in case … Anyone have some winter clothes I can borrow? Ha Ha
