Small Choices

I woke this morning to find a light, drizzly fog had settled in. And it was cold. “Should I run in this,” I asked myself. The answer: “hell yes!”

Sometimes I find it amazing that I can go from not feeling like running to completely enjoying myself once I get going. Today’s run was supposed to be an easy 6-miler, and that is exactly what I did; but I found myself picking up the pace and enjoying the cold, foggy morning more than I had any right to.

So let’s suppose that instead of going out for my run I stayed in bed a little longer. I can guarantee you that I would not be feeling as good as I do right now. I would instead feel depressed by the cold, gloomy weather and waste a perfectly good day.

Often times I wonder if I might not be my biggest obstacle to success – success being whatever goal it is I have set for myself. I find that I place these limits on myself, dooming myself to under-performance. For instance, only a few years ago I was in such poor physical condition I couldn’t even run three miles without hurting my back, hips, knees or ankles. I was fat, pre-hypertensive, pre-diabetic, and had numerous aches and pains throughout the body. At that time, I felt that I was just old and had to accept that my body wasn’t what it used to be. Then I realized I was slowly dying and needed to do something about it. So I started running again.

Now, here I am at the age of 39 and I feel like I am in the best physical condition of my life — excepting a few aches and pains that really are the product of aging. Only two years of training and I have completely reversed my downward spiral.

Sometimes I wonder if it was my destiny to get back into running again and save myself from that early heart attack I was working toward. Then I realize there is no such thing as destiny, only choices. And the choices that matter most aren’t the big ones, but the small ones that are made each day.