Madness or Motivation??

This was the thought running through my head this morning during my short 4 mile run.  Madness or Motivation!  

Why did I think these thoughts?  Well it started last night.  We are about 1800 miles into our trip across the Great USA!  Not only has the temperature changed drastically, my Southern California husband got to experience his first snow and ice storm while driving a RV pulling Seadoos.  He also got to experience the windshield wiper freezing up while driving. (This is something everyone from the Midwest has experience at one or more times in their life).  So we found shelter at a local Walmart in Bloomington, IL (Land of Lincoln).  

Pat learning Window Wiper Cleaning 101, although there was actually something wrong with them

  As I laid awake last night, I could hear the howling of the wind and feel the nice Arctic breeze through the window.  (Apparently a RV isn't insulated very well).  So the excuses started coming. "I can't run in weather like this."  "It's too cold."  "I can slip and fall."  "We need to get on the road early, I can't waste a hour."   And boy, they were flowing.

Ironically, before I turned the light off for the night, I started reading, "Zen and the Art of Running".

So far an excellent read

 Chapter One is about how we perceive situations. We need to think about the situation, is it something we can't or can change.  For example, it's arctic cold outside.   I can't change the fact that it's cold, but I can change the way I react (feel) towards the cold.  That stayed in my mind all night long to the point I KNEW I was going to attempt the run.

So this morning, I told Hubby, I'm going for a run.  He looked at me in complete shock and asked if I knew how cold it was outside.  Of course, I knew how cold it was, I  heard the wind and felt it all night long.  Besides, I just checked Weather.com on my phone.

Yes, 19 beautiful degrees with a windchill of what I don't know nor did it matter.

Lucky for me, I knew to pack for cold extreme weather, so on went all the garments and layers.  I stepped outside, said out loud to myself, "This isn't so bad!"  Off I went.  Then the thoughts started again.  "Our you mad, Barbara? You have no races scheduled, you are on vacation, just turn around."  Which then lead to me thinking, how can I inspire others to do things out of their comfort zone, when I am not willing to do them myself.  I am not training for a race but I am training for a healthy lifestyle. I am training to fulfill a dream.  I run not only for fitness and weight loss but for myself!  I run for the calmness and peace and natural energy it gives me.  I run for ME , MYSELF and I!  It's my time to connect to God, nature, and ME!

When I returned to the RV 55 minutes later not only was it 2 degrees warmer, I had set a new PR for me (since the hip replacement).

55 minutes later - 2 degrees warmer

 I ran 4 miles in 55 minutes.  Then I thought, in August and September I could not run 2.5-3 miles in one hour and if I did, the pain was horrible.  Now look what I did.  I was so excited.  I shared it with the Hubby.  I also said to him and MYSELF, see if you change your attitude about things, you will excel!

So was it Madness or Motivation!  I would normally say a bit of both but it was Motivation!  Motivation to be the best I can be! Motivation to fulfill my dreams! Motivation to find MYSELF! Motivation to inspire!

2 miles into my run!  Corn fields and Ice makes for a wonderful running path