Written December 6, 2024
Hello Dear Readers,
Today was so cold that I thought I was running in an enormous Freezer. Since I had new running goals, I had to run 10k in this weather, but I was reluctant to do so because of the weather.
Despite the cold weather, I managed to complete my run. My wife, who ran earlier in the morning on the same day, complained that the cold weather made her body stiff. I understand what she felt. I also needed to expend much more energy in cold weather to run and keep myself warm. I couldn’t beat my pace time, but I got close enough to be satisfied with my effort.
I have been exercising stoicism when it comes to running. No matter the weather, I try to keep my promise to run. At first, I started running because my wife wanted me to walk toward getting better. She wanted me to have more endurance and the ability to walk or run. Since the brain stroke, I no longer drive cars, so I always have to ask my wife to drive me around. The ability to walk or run is my freedom of mobility outside the home.
We moved to a house near a doctor’s office, a dentist, and everything else I wanted to visit alone. Unless it is bad weather, I do not even ask my wife to drive to those places. The house is approximately 1.3 miles from these offices, so I can easily walk there. It was my freedom of mobility.
Several years since I started running, running became my goal. It is no longer my wife’s goal. I internalized my vision and created the goal. They may not be aggressive, but I am steadily improving my running ability.
I came to understand that it is right to approach your goal more slowly. I adjusted my running goals as per my capacity. The most crucial part is you are committed to the goals. I create a yearly goal with another layer of small goals underneath it. I adjust them quite frequently. It happens to me that things don’t work out very well on many occasions. I often stumble upon stagnation. If you read my blogs regularly, you already know that. It could be daunting and frustrating. Over time, I learned to make frequent adjustments to the goals. I may tweak how I achieve the goal. I sometimes tone down my goals. The important thing is not to give up and to commit to your goals.
I’ll also need to run a 10k tomorrow, but at least the weather will be more conducive. Aside from running in the cold, I completed all my routine Friday chores and ate my usual Friday food, along with the last cider we got last Saturday.