Exercise

I’m restarting my running regime now that graduation and other festivities have passed. A week of laziness and alcohol really takes its toll. Most disappointing is that it feels as though the prior two weeks of running feels wasted. In my defense, one morning I was awoken early with a Charlie horse. It’s just not worth the risk running for the next two days when an atrocity of that nature hits the body.

The problem with exercise is that it takes time to see results. Sure, you may feel great and accomplished after a run, and even more so after several, but that great feeling takes so long to transfer into visual results. And it’s so easy to destroy the work. I spend most of my time trying to maintain the status quo because I love food. More than that, I love bad food. French fries, potato chips, ice cream, and chocolate (well, desserts in general) are my undoing. I try to keep healthy foods around, but I go through them so fast and then have to go back to my bags of chips.

Seriously, have you ever eaten baby carrots??? They are delicious, but they hardly fill you up. I eat a bag at a time most of the time. I can’t afford to have seven bags of those in my apartment. And my fruit salads last three days, max. Why can’t health be economical?

The best part of my current running route is that I structured it to end at a huge yard that has two boxers playing in it. One is bashful and only comes to the fence briefly until the other comes up with his deflated basketball to play tug of war with. His name is Dexter and he’s an awesome tank of a dog. It’s my reward for a good run. However, sometimes the dogs aren’t out. At first I asked myself, “What did I do to deserve this?” Then I realized that it’s good just to have the motivation to play with the dogs. It forces me to exercise regardless, which doesn’t hurt me (unless it does).

And for some, this is the only reason to run: