Midweek Musings | Exercise Edition

Wednesdays are strange days in our house... Really, they are Mondays in disguise as Bruce starts his work week at 9pm on Wednesday evening. He also typically has church responsibilities on Wednesday nights meaning dinner time is... interesting! Ü {cold cereal, anyone?} Then, when he heads off to work, I have to readjust to flying solo all night. This usually leads to Wednesday evenings being a time when my brain goes crazy thinking and pondering as it's the first truly quiet moment I've had in days. I've recently decided that maybe I should use this time to tap out a few of the thoughts in my head, for posterity sake. You know, the things that don't exactly warrant a blog post of their own. In fact, they typically don't warrant a picture even! And perhaps they don't even warrant me taking the time to "put them on paper", but I'm going to give it a try. So welcome to my first edition of Midweek Musings. We'll see how this goes and perhaps these posts will occur more regularly.

I started running back in January... this probably comes as a shock to a lot of people because I make it well known that I despise running. I firmly believe that the only reason I should be running is if zombies are chasing me. Or, if Bruce made a deal with me promising diamond earrings in exchange for running a half marathon with him. Turns out, there is a fine line between love and hate and that line, is a pair of diamond studs! {Anyone catching that Friends reference? Ü} I am finding that slowly but surely, I am... not loving, but definitely not despising my runs as much as I use to. I still can't run far, or fast, but I'm running and that's what's important. And one day, before I turn 80, I will have those earrings! I will!

I started out listening to music as I ran. I figured some good upbeat tunes would help keep my mind off the torture I was inflicting on my body. Nope. I found myself bored to tears as I ran listening to music, no matter what varieties I tried. Country cardio, 80s dance, pop, even Zumba music like Pitbull just wasn't doing it. Then I had the brilliant idea (inspiration perhaps?) to start listening to General Conference talks while I run. Oh. My. Goodness. It has made a WORLD of difference in not only my ability to run but my desire to make my runs happen. And I keep finding myself hearing talks that I totally need to be hearing! For example- Bruce and I are about to start a Baptism Prep study with Sunshine, to help prepare her for her big day next year and I've been pondering what we need to teach her and how to teach it. Yesterday, I went for a long {for me} run and listened to three different talks from October's Relief Society broadcast that focused on the importance of covenants and being covenant keeping people. I arrived home from my run with several ideas of things to include in our Baptism Prep. I've also heard talks that are helping me prepare for our upcoming Primary teacher training as well as talks that have helped me to offer advice and comfort to friends in need. It is amazing. Even though I still don't enjoy the actually act of running, I find myself looking forward to my runs as they give me some quiet moments of peace where I can soak in the words of the prophet and his apostles.  And I might just learn to love the running part yet.

Tomorrow I have a short run scheduled, then Saturday I am aiming to finish what will be my longest run ever in my 29 years of life. 4 miles, baby! {I know, I know. It sounds pitiful compared to what a lot of people consider a long run, but remember... I believe we should only run when being chased  by zombies or knife-wielding bad guys} So, wish me luck, and if you don't hear from me early next week, assume I didn't survive. Ü