You Cannot Dream Yourself Into A Character

Guys, I ran 5.3 miles in 1:09:40 burning 702 calories....When I told my mom, she called me a beast and that's exactly what I feel like! I don't know what came over me to work that hard, but something in the back of my mind told me to push. Instead of jogging for the entire route like I used to do months ago, over the past couple of weeks, I've switched to more of the HIIT (high intensity interval training) technique, which means that I walk for about 45 seconds, run hard for about 30 seconds, walk again, run, walk, run, you get the picture. And it is obviously quite effective. When I pace myself and jog for long distances, I think my body gets bored and doesn't burn as much because it isn't work quite as hard. With the intense intervals, my body is working hard, calming down, and then working hard all over again. It's tough, it keeps me out of breath, and it makes me feel stronger. I'm damn proud of myself.

Since I had such a great run, I'll skip the extra workout today. I think 3 times a week is good enough for that. I'm sleepy today, but my energy is way up because of that run! I love this feeling. I love feeling that I accomplished something. I love the feeling of knowing that I can do even better than I did before, that I can be better than myself. I don't compete with anyone but Rachel because I'm the only person who can bring me down or make me better. Days like this are not always going to happen, but I can keep working hard to try to outdo myself or at the very least, keep up with myself. 

"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge youself into one." -Thoreau
Ain't that the truth. By besting myself, I'm getting closer to becoming the person I aim to be. I'm not a lazy, unmotivated, self-loathing person who just hopes that things will happen anymore. I've turned into the kind of person who makes things happen for herself and doesn't wait around for things to fall into place. I've grown up enough to realize that things don't just occur or happen to you, you have to work hard to receive and acheive what you want. I didn't get this far by sitting around looking at workout plans with pictures of skinny girls on Pinterest and wishing I could do and be that. I got up, put the fork down, and started working. No one told me to, no one made me, I just realized that I had to change the path that I was on. 

When I fell off track a few months ago, I wasn't one hundred percent sure that I could get back on, but then, with the right mindset, I just did it. I didn't wait around for someone to tell me that I needed to. I made the conscious decision to not give up on myself and to get everything back on track again. That's work. Hard work. Mindset is hard work and it is something that you have to control yourself. It's something that you have to concentrate on and really work at. This is not a piece of cake (mmm cake...wait). If you want to be a better version of yourself, you have to put in the effort. You have to make yourself become that person, whether it's losing weight, getting healthy, letting go of anger, learning to become more malleable and more laid back, becoming a harder worker, anything. Whoever it is that you want to be, you and only you have to decide on your own that you're going to do it. It does help to have an accountability partner in many of these endeavors, but you are the one who must to change and change the way you think. And don't you dare half-ass it, either. If you decide you're going to do something, do it. Don't overthink, just do. Commit and work. 

Anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and make good decisions! I, for one, know that I'm going to be spending much of my weekend sleeping in, resting, and doing a whole lotta nothin'! I'll get back to running Monday evening, but until then, these muscles deserve a break! And now, let the resting begin :)