I felt horrible the week before last. I was waking up late, being unproductive throughout the day and goofing around all evening. I was approaching depression territory as last weekend rolled around; I didn't want to talk to anybody or do anything outside of the house.
After playing video games all weekend, I not only needed a change, but I wanted a change. I decided to wake up at 7am on Monday, which is 2 hours earlier than my norm. It worked great on Monday. I had good energy throughout the day, got some good work done and really paid attention in my evening Computer Architecture class. I also had a good chat with my coworker Zach that day about his morning running habits and I decided to challenge myself again the next day.
I woke up at 7am again on Tuesday and went running in the morning! This was a first for me, because I never thought that I could work out first thing in the morning. The run went well even though I'm very out of shape; I did a very basic 20 minute run/walk workout. I was incredulous about how much energy I had throughout Tuesday. My daily regiment of coffee and diet soda was entirely replaced by waking up earlier and exercising. It worked so well that I challenged myself to do it the rest of the week.
I'm proud to say that I did it - I woke up at 7am every day last week and ran every day Tuesday-Friday. I definitely had my share of difficulties - running isn't as easy as it was when I was in better shape, but by Friday I was up to running 2.5 miles continuously. My ankles feel like they're ready to pop, but I'm resting them this weekend. Mother nature tried to deter me Thursday morning - it started pouring shortly after I started running and it stopped raining right after I stopped running!
I'm challenging myself again this week. I'd like to do another 5 days of 7am wakeups and workouts. I'd like to gain distance, speed and run for longer, but more importantly I'm concentrating on making this a habit. They say it takes 21 days to make something a habit and I would really like to make the running euphoria a habitual part of my life. Wish me luck!
