No More Excuses

This morning after I ran 40 minutes on the hottest day of the year so far, I gulped down glass after glass of water at my sink. My mom was in the kitchen at the time eating cheese and crackers (awesome cheese from France!). When I felt like I could walk without passing out, I went and sat at the table to eat some before she ate it all. My mom and I don't talk to each other much, we still have that wall from my early adolescence years in between us, but she will occasionally bring up her insecurities of feeling fat. And of course, I always tell her to run. Let me just say, she's really not even that fat. Especially considering the six kids she gave birth to, she's actually doing quite well. She swims and bikes, but those aren't the same as running. Running is everything anyone needs and it burns a ton of fat. This morning was one of those occasions where she complains about her weight, and I tell her to run.

"But my feet will hurt!" she says. 

I roll my eyes (a knee jerk reaction to almost everything she says). She exasperates me, like anyone else who makes an excuse not to run. She's the type who believes all those "quick-fix" franchises. She buys anti-aging stuff, even though you obviously can't reverse time no matter what, aging is a part of life. She buys diet syrups that you mix with lemon juice and that's all you “eat”; A.K.A., disguised anorexia. Unlike me, she believes anything without even questioning how it works, as long as it's an easy fix.

"Mom seriously, if you want to lose weight you need to run."

"I'm too fat to run anyways, I don't think I could do it."

And that is when I had my little light bulb moment. I remembered a video I had seen a few years back. I grabbed her iPad and googled "fat guy loses weight running" and I found this absolutely inspirational video. It is living proof that anyone with two working legs and determination can run. No matter who you are. I showed it to my mom and she cried (either she has a big heart or no emotional control what-so-ever (probably the latter)). 

Then she uses her feet hurting excuse again. 

That's when I throw my hands in the air and exclaim: "You think his feet didn't hurt?????!"

The truth is - the beautiful, yet ugly to some, truth is: Running hurts. It hurts. It hurts your feet. It hurts you muscles. It hurts your pounding heart. It hurts your lungs. It hurts your tendons and ligaments. It hurts your bones. Running hurts your body. Like anything worth doing it is hard.

But running also heals your soul. It fixes your life. It's not quick. It's not easy. But it is worth it.

The moral of the story is: anyone can run. You can run. Stop the excuses. There are always hundreds of excuses not to do something. Don't be the person who is always finding a reason not to do it, stuck in your head. Stuck in the sidelines of life.

Also, hydrate before you run! Especially on the hot days.