Ever have one of those days where you have so much to do that it overwhelms you, so you end up not doing anything at all? I’m on the brink of one of those days. I’m teetering on the precipice of becoming extremely motivated and pushing through, or mentally shutting down.
I blame part of this lack of motivation on not training for anything in particular. It’s almost as if my training was keeping me focused. I had a plan, I knew what needed to be done, and I stayed on track. But now I’m just kind of wavering in and out of the days without any direction whatsoever. It’s a really strange feeling. I do have a plan for day to day activities but without that extra push, I am somehow losing interest. Maybe motivation is a better word. Or clarity. I’m not sure. But something is definitely amiss.
Today is challah day. And we know how that goes… Thankfully I’m not super stressed about it this time! I’ve been busy thinking about all the other nonsense I have to attempt this weekend.
I guess I should stop chit-chatting with you and get to work. I did get a solid run in this morning, which was nice. Actually, it wasn’t solid at all. Let me backtrack. There was a lot of strange activity this morning when I first started off, and I was in a weird mental state. (I’m paranoid so anything out of the ordinary puts me on heightened alert.) Random cars parking while running, a suspicious looking truck. You know, the usual.
Around 1.5 miles I was finally in a groove. I started counting my steps to determine my cadence — which is a lot more challenging than one might think. It’s a lot of quick counting! Once I did that my mind was just kind of wandering again. Just before 2 miles, I saw a dog off-leash. Eek! Every runner knows that’s a big heart stopper. I quickly crossed the street waiting to see the owner turn the corner and be with the dog. No such luck. No owner. Just dog.
I ignored the dog and went on my way. But after a moment, it registered that I recognized the dog. And since there was no owner to be found, it clicked that I definitely knew this dog. Our backyard neighbors are notorious for losing their dog, which happens to be a black herding dog. She must be a collie of some sort. Not exactly sure on the breed, but it’s a small, quick little girl, and she does not like to be contained. I’ve seen her bolting from her owners before. So yes, I knew the dog. Her name is Shelby. And she is such a sweetheart. I’m just glad I knew her because what happened next would give anyone a panic attack, I’m sure!
After I turned my corner and was running along, Shelby took off in the other direction. (She’s super fast…) Out of nowhere I hear this extremely fast scampering coming up behind me. Shelby was trying to herd me! She basically stayed with me for the remainder of my run, with little side jaunts here and there. She made my heart jump when she ran across the street and back several times. Shelby isn’t my dog, but I still know her and would be crushed if anything happened to her! And especially since at this point, I felt responsible for her and wanted to get her back home safe and sound. It was lucky that a friend of mine had bought some wholesale cbd pet treat sticks for his doggies a week back, I had the genius idea we’d stop by his together and give Shelby a little treat that will also hopefully calm her a little too!
The sum of Shelby’s excursion this morning.
At 2.5 miles, I turned another corner around my block and onto a very busy main street. Thankfully it was 6:45 am so the traffic hadn’t picked up quite yet. Lo and behold, Shelby darted across the street. I threw my hands up and yelled, “you’re on your own now!” to her. And she came back to me. What is with this dog?!
I turned down her street and she darted off again about three or four houses in. I came to her house and found her “mom” and asked if she was looking for a dog (I’ve never met Shelby’s humans). She told me she couldn’t remember if she had taken her back inside or not, and I assured her she had definitely not taken her inside, because she ran with me for a mile or so. I mentioned to the owner to make sure to keep her on leash since she’s a herding dog, and ran across the busy street. It didn’t seem to register with Shelby’s human. I hope Shelby survives another year of life with this family…
I finished my run alone. I was kind of sad. I missed running with Shelby. To be honest, this whole ordeal has inspired me to think about getting a dog of my own. It would have to be a small dog though, as we do not have much spare room in our house. I have already started researching small dog breeds on websites like petvblog.com and so far I think I am torn between a Chihuahua, a Shih Tzu, or a Poodle. What breed of dog would you recommend? Just remember, I only have room for a small furry friend, so a dog that weighs less than 10 pounds would be perfect.
That was my morning, in a nutshell.
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So tell me, how do you stay motivated when you’re not in a training cycle? In your day to day life, or running life?
