Positively Positive
While I would describe myself as a realist rather than a pessimist, I do think it’s fair to say that most realists are probably a bit pessimistic just by nature of realizing that things are pretty much as they appear – which means, sometimes, pretty crappy.
The hubs, however, always thought I was a pessimist. For example, if you have four-year-old twin boys in the middle of the den floor playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with empty papertowel-tube swords in a fort made of all the couch cushions (which, by the way, if you have any children in your home under the age of, oh – 16 – and you buy a couch with unattached cushions, it’s your own damn fault and don’t come crying to me because I learned the hard way and I guess you’re just gonna have to, too), and you put your cup of diet coke in the middle of the coffee table, and your wife says, “that cup is going to get knocked over” maybe the husband thinks the wife is being negative, while the wife is simply and fully aware of the fact that the beverage is not long for this Ninja Turtle-inhabited world. And also that the husband has done the same thing in the same situation 8 times already which is why the supply of cups in the house is rapidly dwindling since four year old boys can destroy plastic as easily as glass.
Anyway, I’ve decided this Lent to try adding instead of subtracting. I’m going to try to add a more positive outlook on things. I’ll pay more attention to the positive realistic things and try to ignore the negative realistic things. I’m going to add healthier food. I’m going to keep working on adding more miles – altho I do wish I could subtract the fascist plantars in my feet.
This morning was a great chance to add some positivity in my day since it was supposed to be 15-25 mph winds with tornado watches. Watches are different than warnings. It’s like Code Yellow vs. Code Red. One thing I’m positive of: Memphis weather is psycho, and Code Nothing can go to Code We’re All Gonna Die in about a minute. Also I’m still having relationship issues with weather.com, as you both know. We broke up early last week and then on Sunday weather.com was so nice to me, gave me a beautiful sunny, slightly breezy, not-too-warm not-too-cold day and you know how it is when they bring you candy and look so remorseful; we were back together although I did state emphatically that This. Is. The. Last. Time.
I was positive that Cat was using my undercover toes as batting practice at 5:15 this morning so I got up and decided to be happy about the fact that God made coffee as I visited the Shrine of Glorious Coffee Making Perfection, pouring dark steaming nectar into my favorite mug *sip* *sip* *sigh* now I don’t have to kill anyone, you can all come back into the house. I’ve got an hour on the books with Cheryl, aka The Exorcist, Jr. Despite the fact she insists she’s just a trainer I am convinced she does not sleep and spends the dark hours of the night dreaming up new tortures. Something about the way her eyes glow and spin when she thinks I’m not looking, I don’t know, it doesn’t seem right. After the reign of terror I’ll do 5 easy miles.
Weather.com gaily informed me that today I am looking at:
Scattered strong thunderstorms. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. High 73F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
This does not sound like weather I want to do 5 easy miles in, but I’m willing to wait and give things a chance (see how positive that was?)
I worked out with Cheryl and she didn’t seem to want to kill me completely dead, so that would be a positive thing.
She has a gym in her garage and we worked out with the door open. That was positive. It’s also probably the reason she didn’t seem to want to kill me completely dead. The neighbors might notice. That would be a good thing – another score for positveness.
Plus it was pretty funny watching her chase the recylcing down the road when the wind blew it out of the recylcing bucket. That was defnitely positive. Made even more positive by the fact that she was running in a pair of Danskos instead of running shoes.
The wind kept blowing and the clouds kept growing larger and darker and I wavered – should I chance a run outside or stick with the treadmill? (I didn’t call it the *D*readmill – Positiveness)
I did a mile on the *T*readmill and decided to chance running outside before my brain fell out from boredom. I wasn’t hearing any sirens, there were no end-of-the-world warnings screaming across the bottom of the TV screen and the rain hadn’t shown up yet. See how this positivity thing is really falling into place for me? This is getting encouraging.
I headed out and the wind wasn’t too bad until I turned the corner. Then the wind managed to be blowing against me when I ran south. Then it blew against me when I ran west. Then it blew against me when I ran north. But just think, it was like doing speed work without having to actually run fast. My HR was 156 at a pace that should have been about 140. Positively positivness.
And when I was finally headed east on the final 1/2 mile, the wind was at my back. Suddenly I was running what should have been a 165HR pace at 136HR. Honestly, this positivitiy-ness thing is working pretty good! I’m not even too mad at weather.com that the promised damaging winds and large hail haven’t shown up while I sit here with the window open and the sun occassionally peeping out of the clouds and a warm kitten sleeping on my lap.
Run. Dog. Cat. Cat. Me. 