Whatever It Takes, Right?

This sign was in San Fran and it cracked me up. It helps me when I need to get out and run but don't want to. Like today. Only today I have an excuse. It's still raining. There's no more hail, but it's still raining (and thundering a little). I didn't run yesterday because it was raining then too. Only it got sunny (i.e. steamy) in the afternoon and I could have run but it's so hard to run when it's almost 90 and steamy. Whine. Whine. I told myself (promised myself even) that I would run today.
Sad. I hate to break a promise to myself. But did I mention it's still raining (and thundering a little)? What a fair weather runner I've turned out to be.

I could mention that I have new shoes that I don't want to get all mucky. I got new shoes because the guys at the store where I've been buying my running shoes for 20 years (yikes!) told me the cushion on my old ones was COMPLETELY blown. I said, "Really? How can you tell?" I was made to understand that the lack of cushion in my shoes was so obvious that anyone with eyes could have seen. From miles away. Apparently I have no eyes. Even so, I trust these guys. Blind faith? I dunno. They sold me my first pair of running shoes - the ones I took to boot camp. They are both coaches and sell just running stuff. It's not a sporting goods store: no baseballs or soccer cleats or anything. It's all running all the time. I don't think they need a billboard to make them laugh so they can run. They probably don't even think about whether their new shoes (which look EXACTLY like the old ones to people without eyes) will get mucky. I suspect they just run. Like I should be doing right now. Instead of blogging about how I'm not running yet.

EEEEEEK! The race is in 9 days. Nine. Days. The running shoe guys told me that one thing that newbie half-marathoners do is that they don't 'taper'. They get in too much mileage in the last couple of weeks. Whew. Lucky me. THAT's not my problem. Of course, when they told me to 'taper', I don't think they meant for me to 'stop running completely'. The running magazines have helpful articles that address every problem but mine. They cover how to force yourself to taper (key - ease off on the training, do NOT put in too much mileage) , how to come back from an injury (key - ease back into training, do NOT put in too much mileage), how to get better race times (key - ease off on the mileage but run FASTER in training), etc. Not one of the articles answers the plea, "Help! I've stopped running and I can't start back up!"
It's just a wee bit intimidating to realize I'm in a sport where apparently every single person (besides me) has to be cautioned about running TOO MUCH.

You know how the Red Cross gets people to donate blood? Well, I think I should get a bunch of runners to come in and I could suck the motivation out of them and store it for people like me, people who, for whatever reason, need a motivation transfusion. I'd give all the donors t-shirts. And pins when they've donated enough motivation. (Have you earned your Five Marathon Pin yet?) Yeah, yeah, that'd work.

Dang. It's stopped raining. I guess I better go run (even without a transfusion.) But y'all? If you happen to have extra running mojo that you're not using today, you could go ahead and send it down this way.

Peace.