I’ve been an inactive person all of my life, until about two and a half years ago. I have used all the excuses to get out of doing physical activity – too hot, too cold, my head hurts, my knees hurt, I didn’t get enough sleep, I feel a cold coming on, it’s getting dark out… I’ve used them all. But now that I’m healthy and I actually like the feeling I get after a great workout, I’m able to get out of my head and get s@%t done without the excuses, most of the time.

Yesterday was a day of calling on excuses. My “Team Framingham” running group scheduled a great run for members running the Boston Marathon. Even though I’m not running Boston, I’m in the running club so invited to join. It is so much fun to run with friends, I really wanted to do it. But, the temperature at the start of the run yesterday was 6 degrees. Many people in the group didn’t let that stop them. They are dedicated and went for it anyway. Most posted that they had a great (albeit cold!) run. My excuses were screaming at me, and this time I listened to them. I’ve always had issues with cold. The change now is that I didn’t let that stop me. I went to a great boxing class yesterday but knew that I still needed to get in a run.

This morning dawned about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. Phew! Sidewalks are still a bit icy – no excuses! Roads are narrow – no excuses! I’ll be running by myself – boring, but still no excuses! I ran a four-mile loop around my neighborhood before heading out along the road to a great park (that is plowed!). Cushing Park is only a one-mile loop, so with the mile run there and back, I had to only run the loop four times. Yup, it was boring, but better than staying just in my neighborhood or running only around the park 8 times.

The moral, I survived, I didn’t give up, and I accomplished my 10-mile goal with a pace that made me happy, all while staying warm!