Day 5, Week 9: Accidental tempo runs & stop giving a crap about body-hating jerks

I got up with every intention if just doing a 3 mile easy run with the large dog, but then this happened on this dark and foggy morning:

First, about 0.75 miles into the run I realized that the weather on Sunday--my 20 mile long run day--called for thunderstorms all day long.  And that meant I could either run while getting hit by lightning or move my tempo run up a day so I could do those 20 miles on Saturday.  While Saturday is still going to be a big ball of rainy suck, at least no electricity from the sky will be involved.  I wisely chose to do my 6 mile tempo at that very moment.  However, I unwisely only allotted enough time for a 3 mile run, so I was just going to have to suck it up and do as many miles as I could.

Second, the large dog would literally not stop running - he kept pulling me away from the entrance to the driveway every time we passed it on our one-mile running loop-de-loop, and by "pulling" I mean "yanking me so hard away from the driveway entrance I almost fell over."  I got the hint.  He wanted to keep going, so I ended up doing the whole damn six miles and doing a very shortened "get ready for work" routine.

Here he is not caring if I'm late for work.

By the way, to finally end the run I had to pull him down the driveway, with him trying to get back on the road for more running goodness the whole time. 

So because I was running a tad behind this morning I of course had to stop and grab a pic with the animals that did not go running so they, too, could enjoy the glory that is those running tights with reflective stitching and my grossly mismatched top.

Cat be like "this hyooman's stupid must be eliminated."

And then I had to stop and grab a screenshot of how I ran this tempo too fast as per usual (supposed to be at a 9:20 pace.  Ha!)

I tried to be slow.  Honest.

I did make it to work today, just in case you were wondering.  But I know what else you're wondering: How come you take all those stupid pictures, Terie, and post them on the interwebs for all to see?  Have you no shame, woman?

Nope.  Not really.  I used to, though.  I used to be extremely shy and very self-conscious of what people thought of me and particularly of what people thought of my body.  Since this is pretty much drummed into us girls since the age of fetus, it was my everyday normal, especially since weight management has been an issue for me nearly all my life. 

But then I lost some weight and started to feel OK about my body again.  And then I started running and pretty much decided I no longer gave a flying *badword* about what people thought of my body, especially after you run 20 or so miles and your goal is to finish the marathon in an upright position rather than looking like a fitness model.

Running has made me quite comfortable being me.  I accept my body for what it is, stretch marks, cellulite, overly large hands, left eye that sometimes doesn't like to open all the way in the morning  and all.  And you shouldn't give a crap about what people think about your body.  Why?  Let's enumerate:

1. Ain't nobody got time for worrying about what other people think about your body.  Once I got over 40, I realized I had better things to do that be self-conscious about my body--like run marathons, ruin people's race photos, dress up like a taco, and take excessive pictures of my pets to post online.
2. Your body is your body.  Do with it what you will (but know there are consequences...both good and bad, depending on what exactly you'r doing with your body).
3. Did you know you're more than the sum of your parts?  You're more than what your body looks like, and that more is greater than the number on a piece of clothing.
4. You're always a work in progress.  Don't beat yourself up for what you're working to change about your body, and don't beat yourself up for how long it's taking you to make those changes. And especially don't beat yourself up because someone offered an unsolicited rude opinion about the current state of your body. (See the "jerk" part in #5 below.)
5. People who think less of you/are critical of you/say stupid things to you like "are you pregnant" (happened to me!) are jerks.  And you're not the jerk whisperer.  That's their issue, not yours.
6. You shouldn't give a crap because not giving a crap is very freeing.  Need proof?  See every dumb picture I've ever posted.  Or at least those bad race photos.

This post is over; the small dog is bored with all this non-facetious "love yourself the way you are" seriousness.

Kids...it's learning time:

• Sometimes I make smart decisions like not running in thunderstorms.  
• And then there are the times I make decisions like that running outfit.  Ugh.
• Will I ever run a tempo at the right pace?  Who knows.
• Seriously, don't let anyone give you any crap about your body.  If you do, tell me and I'll make them run with my nutty dog.

Tomorrow's workout: Some weights.  Maybe.  Or a run.  Oh, the mystery....