When bad naps happen to good people...

I am not a napper.

Sleeping when it's light out and there are things do, places to go, people to see just goes against my grain. Sure, I may loll about doing nothing, going nowhere, seeing no one during my day, but I would rather be awake just in case.

Today I napped.

What a disaster.

My husband is out of town through the weekend. Yes, that guy does go away a lot. And little Miss C is in preschool today while all the older kids are in regular school. My plan was to use this opportunity to run during the day.... oooooo.... and on terrain that is similar to my upcoming race in Long Beach, California. I was to run for around an hour on a flat, straight road.

This morning, I got home from school drop-offs after performing lice duty and busied myself with busywork of no real consequence. Then I decided to get ready to run. It was a little before noon.

I saw this...

I thought..."hmmmm... I should change the sheets and make the bed." So of course I lay down on top of the comforters and pillows... I don't know... so I could see if they were really dirty? 

I closed my eyes and thought... "hmmmmm... this is nice..." I glanced at one of the two clocks and told myself, "Just 5 minutes."

Fifteen minutes later, at 12:10, I looked at the clock again and said to myself, "Ooooo... I should probably get going if I'm going to fit in a run and lunch and a shower before I go get those kids." And I relaxed back into the pile of softness... that wasn't too smelly.

At five minutes before 1 o'clock, I looked at the clock again. "Wow," I thought. "I really should get going!" 

I rolled over. And next thing I knew...

Ummmm... yeah!

And they both said 2:20... so I know it wasn't some weird time warp deal.

My whole day, spent lying on top of a wad of comforters and pillows. I do not feel relaxed and/or rested. I didn't do my run. I need to race off to pick up my kids to take them to soccer and swimming and listen to the oldest one complain about how he has to be dragged around to all of this when he really has wayyyyyyyyy more important things to do. 

Awesome.

I hate naps.

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And hey, if you want to check out what kind of food I eat, go see Jason at Cook Train Eat Race. I am probably the only athlete to admit dining at In N Out Burger :P

Don't tell me I can't.

This video has been circulating the cyberworld for a while now, most often in its dramatized-with-music version which you can see here if you prefer that sort of perspective. And if you want to see a not-so-remarkable interview with this remarkable young woman, go here.

I needed to look at this today.

I'm feeling shaky... and I know that I am my own worst enemy.

I'm staring down the barrel of my first long race in over a decade, and injury is still fresh in my mind.

I've been setting some goals... pretty lofty ones. I don't set my goals cavalierly...a lot of thought goes into their creation. I am generally hesitant to share them because I tend to perceive anything other than..."Awesome! Go, XL! You CAN do it! I'm right here with you!" as naysaying. And at first, I whole-heartedly believe those naysayings... or perceived naysayings. I always climb out of that abyss. And I pretty much always hit my goals... sometimes it just takes me a little longer than I thought :)

I need to remember this.

Don't tell me I can't...  go to college. I'll just prove you wrong and do it on my own... and get two degrees.

Don't tell me I can't...  be good at rowing. I'll just prove you wrong and win a couple of national championships and medal in international competition.

Don't tell me I can't...  have kids because I am too old. I'll just prove you wrong and have babies at the age of 36, 39, almost 42, and almost 46.

Don't tell me I can't...  be strong because I'm weak right now. I'll just have to prove you wrong and show you that immeasurable strength lies beneath this seemingly-physically weak exterior.

Don't tell me I can't...  be fast because I'm slow right now. I'll just have to prove you wrong and show you how far and how fast I can go on determination, experience, and heart.

Don't tell me I can't... I won't listen.

Ultimately, it isn't about showing you or anyone other than me what I can do. And even though that sounds incredibly self-absorbed, it's actually quite the opposite.

making a blog post about it is awfully narcissistic, though! 


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