Become a Morning Runner: A Check and Balance System.
By Morgan Johnson.
http://brunchrunning.com/
I didn’t used to be a morning person. When I first started working at the law firm where I started my career as a lawyer, I usually woke up at 8:15am(and had to be at work at 9am). I wasn’t exercising except for some gentle yoga here and there. I definitely didn’t run.
Now I am a morning runner. But becoming a morning runner takes practice, and it doesn’t happen overnight. And I think there is a lot more to it than just creating a routine.
My morning routine: 1. Get out of bed (after 2 alarms) between 5:15 and 5:45 (depending on the day and the time of year). 2. Drink coffee or a caffeinated pre-workout beverage, or eat a banana if I don’t feel like caffeine. 3. Out the door 15 minutes after waking up (so I don’t have time to talk myself out of running). 4. Run between 4 and 6 miles, again depending on the day and my energy level.
I always feel amazing and accomplished after my morning run. It starts my morning off right and gives me energy for the day. Also, it keeps me lean, and it makes me not feel so guilty when I eat cookies at night. But, really, that’s not why I run in the morning. For me, running symbolizes strength, stability, and happiness. There have been times in my life when I didn’t run for a long period of time, and there have been times in my life when running has been a huge part of my weekly routine. I’ve noticed a direct correlation between my level of satisfaction and feeling of control over my own life, and my dedication to my running. I’m not saying that I can’t be happy unless I run. In fact, I’m saying the opposite; I think that when I have the desire to run it is because the rest of my life is in balance and is making me happy. The running is a by-product, a symptom of my life in balance.
Because I have noticed this correlation over the past few years, I have begun to use running as an indicator that helps me keep my life in balance. If I hop out of bed at 5:15am, and I have a smile on my face, and I am ready to hit the road, life is generally pretty good. If I drag myself out of bed at7:30am and struggle to slowly jog 1 mile, life may be getting bad. If I can’t bring myself to wake up until the last possible moment before I HAVE to be awake to stay employed, and the only form of exercise I can manage is stress-reducing gentle yoga, something is definitely amiss.
Now I don’t mean to suggest that if you don’t wake up early and run 6 miles your life is crap because that’s simply not true. What I’ve written above is a reflection of my life and my experience. Everyone is different, and everyone has a different way of judging whether all is well in his or her world. The reason I share my experience is so that, hopefully, some of you will take a moment and be aware of your own world and you level of balance. We create out own realities, right? Is there anything that you notice you do when you are happy? Something that you don’t do when you are unhappy? Once we can begin to cultivate an awareness of out own lives based on small indicators, we can use these indicators to create a check and balance system on ourselves. I like to run. I do it several mornings a week, and if I ever stop that is when it is time to take a step back and examine my life.
Check yourself, friends, before you wreck yourself!
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