Week Four: An Epic Journey of Failure and Success

Before I get into anything else I want to say a huge and resounding "Thank you!!" to my Dad's cousin Jan and her husband Larry for being my very first donation! I am so grateful for their support, both of the children we are helping and my own journey. Their generosity made my day! Thanks!

Now, to business.

Guys, this week was rough. Not because I had a bad week, or felt depressed, or anything particularly eventful happened. It was rough due to scheduling.

I work two jobs, six days a week, like many people out there. It's usually fine because I have a fairly regular schedule and I get my sleep in. This week, however my retail job scheduled me for two nine hour shifts that started at 6:00 am. In Chicago that means getting up at 4:30 to get to work on time. It was yucky. I actually adjusted my sleep schedule fairly well, but getting up that early does unpleasant things to your body, and standing that long does unpleasant things to your feet. All this was compounded by the fact that Wednesday I stayed an hour longer to finish up with a customer I had in the store, bringing the tally to 10 hours. She was great, I'm glad I'm helped, but man, these dogs were tired! Ti-red!

I bet you think I went home and collapsed in a sleepy heap right? I wish! I wanted to sooo very badly! But I couldn't. I couldn't miss my run! I strapped on those running shoes and I marched out the door and instantly felt like I was going to die. This was my worst run yet. It was one of those runs where other runners are passing you left and right. One of those runs where you feel like you're not moving any faster than walking and your legs are still going to fall off. 

But I did it. 

I am proud to say that I managed to succeed while failing (an interesting skill that I am grateful to have). Every run this week was affected by my crazy shifts. Every run felt awful, slow, and hopeless, like I was accomplishing nothing. But I got my butt out the door and did every. single. one. And that, my friends, is winning.

That being said, at least one of them was on a gorgeous day where the lake was clear and still, the sky blue, and the sun golden. It was a terrible experience for my little drumsticks, trucking along like that, but it did my soul a great deal of good. 

Moral of the story? You can only do something as well as you are able in that moment. A painful, slow run was my best on that day, so I did my best. The important thing is that you get out there and do it.

And now, I will leave you with tulips!

Tulip Time! Chicago is a tulip town, and I love seeing them everywhere while I run!