A Mile by Sunday: DONE.

I am feeling the glory of having finished a 30 minute mile. I'd gotten to where I could do a mile in about 45 minutes a few weeks ago and then I skipped exercising entirely (for 2 weeks) so to do .75 of a mile in just over 30 minutes Wednesday and cut my time and still complete the mile TODAY is like WOAH. Words cannot describe. Or maybe they can:

I had a sucky day at work. It wasn't that the workplace wasn't comfortable and it wasn't that my coworkers were any kind of bother. Clients, prize winners and guests who came in were all pretty great. Communication, though? Kaput! It was one of those days when you question if you exist on the same planet as everybody else. I had to go over step-by-step instructions on a number of things because my brain just wouldn't ingest what other people were telling me, and I couldn't seem to express what I knew would make sense, but could only spill out of my head as a jumble of uhms and uhs because my mind was busy backtracking to make sure I was being as clear as I could. TELL ME THIS HAPPENS TO YOU.

So, when I left the office, I was mumbly and grumbly. I had to pass Pantops a.k.a ISLE OF HAZARDOUS FOOD and I was so tempted to veer off into the Taco Bell drive-up that I sought my cell phone (yes, while driving) to hold onto in case I needed to dial someone to talk me through a food-mergency.

My head talk went like this: "But, Taco Bell now is going to make me too tired to go to the gym. Heck, I'm already too tired to go to the gym. Still, if I just keep driving, I'll be home pretty soon and there's stuff already there to eat. But, maybe Burger King would be okay. I could just toss the bread and skip the fries. Ew, but then I'd have to blog it. Sigh. I'm crazy-thirsty. I'll just go through and get a drink. And maybe something little. Augh, see. I can't even JUST get a drink. Fuck it. I have Diet Pepsi at home anyway."

By the time I finished talking, I was already past the clump of fast food joints. My conversation hadn't stopped though.

"What time is it? It's only 1. Wow, I thought it was later. There's time to go to the gym. But, I have to take Hopper to horses (riding lessons) today. *a minute for clock math* So...huhm. I can't eat anything before I go to the gym or I'll get sleepy and ignore everything. But, if I go to the gym, I'll be tired taking Hopper to horses. BLAH. Okay, check it: You can go home and bring this shitty day with you and be all negative and have lunch and probably be too tired to do anything else and feel like crap because you didn't make good choices or you can go to the gym and turn this into a positive day. Even if you don't do the mile. At least go."

I was almost home. I came up on the road that leads to the gym.

"If I go now, I can get on the treadmill and maybe let go of some of this (miscommunication) crap. But, I am not doing a mile. Not today. I could barely friggin walk this morning. I'm going to be tired taking Hopper to horses. But, I can just sleep in the car while she rides. FINE. I'll do it."

Resigned to go to the gym, I turned down that road.

On the treadmill next.

"Good God. There is no way I'm going to get a mile done. It's going to take forever. How long has it been? *check timer* Three minutes. *walkwalkwalk. check time.* Five minutes. UGH! How far have I even gone? *check* Snails walk faster!"

I spent at least half a mile trying to ignore absolutely everything by watching poorly typed captions on two overhead televisions. To the right was CNN news, to the left Days of Our Lives, and I loosely followed both. I can tell you that CNN is harping on obesity because fat kids died of heat exhaustion in recent months and Brady is so going to pummel E.J. when he gets to the clearing in the forest where E.J.'s waiting for him - but Victor may know something and he just may interfere with those plans. That guy's an opportunist, Victor.

If you're still reading this, I gradually increased my speed and just kept going. I got my real energy when I was at a half mile. That's when I started telling myself (trainer-Barb-style) to walk in increments of five - I'd reach .55 miles and set my mind on getting to .60...like that. I told myself that when I got to .90 I would slow my speed down and walk a lazy tenth to the finish...and that's just what I did.

So, now I'm home. I'm tired. I have yet to eat the microwaved entree thingie I threw in when I got here, so I'm off to do that and then take Hopper to horses where I will undoubtedly fall asleep. Hallelujah!