Step out of your comfort zone

This week is all about cross training and early mornings. I was at the gym at 5:30 a.m. yesterday and today. Yesterday I did about 45 minutes on the elliptical, stretched and did some weight training. This morning I did RPM - RPM at 6 a.m. is awesome - who knew you could feel so energized that early in the morning! The new music is really good, too!!

So a few entries ago I talked about the main reason I run - I really like to eat. My new snack is chips dipped in peanut butter. Don't judge me. It's really good. But on a serious note, running also helps me keep my emotions in check. I was reading Fitness Magazine the other day and a few of the women wrote about their reasons for running:

"Running swept that ex right out of my head, along with other garbage that was clogging my thought process."

"Running became my own form of Prozac. Those jogs helped me keep it together and stay positive."

I couldn't agree more with their outlooks on running.

I'm going to get personal in my blog tonight. In January my boyfriend of almost nine years (we were on again off again, but for the most part we were on) and I broke up. I won't lie, I was really sad at first, but then the sadness quickly turned to anger and then the anger turned to "I don't really give a crap." After having some time to think about the past, the relationship really should have ended years ago, but we kept going because it was comfortable. We fought all the time, we saw each other probably 1-2 times a week and the only thing we really had in common was that we both liked to eat. How often do we do things just because we want comfort? Through running I'm learning that we can't always do what's comfortable - we need to push it a little harder each time to become that better runner. Whether you've never run before or you've been running for years we all need to step out of our comfort zone. If you've never run before, make the first step - put on your sneakers and run to the mailbox. Slowly build up. If you've been running for awhile now, set some new goals!

Life shouldn't always be comfortable. Challenge yourself.

Peace. Love. Run.