While some folks got up early yesterday for some Black Friday shopping, I decided to work off the 5,738 calories that I ate during Thanksgiving dinner instead. I was going to turn the beast mode on! Got up at 5:30 am, headed to the gym to train with my trainer and then set off to meet a friend for a trail run. I was supposed to meet her at 8:30, but as I left the gym, I got a message from her that she wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t make it.

I sat in my car trying to decided if I was going to go for a run on my own. Since she wasn’t going to be there, I wasn’t going to go out on the original trail we were planning on running on my own as I am still not familiar it. The thought of going home, taking a hot shower and crawling back to bed was tempting. Beast mode off!

I literally sat in my car for 10 minutes and I thought about all the wonderfully delicious crap that I ate the day before…three servings each if not more, and I thought about the upcoming ultra marathon training. I finally decided that I needed to dig deep and find the motivation to go out in the freezing cold and run. I needed to turn the beast mode back on. I decided to drive up to the Ma and Pa trail, which is more of a semi-paved trail than it was a rough trail through the wood, and hoped that my motivation would set in. Since it was on my way home, I figured if I couldn’t find the motivation, I could just head home.

When I finally got to the Ma and Pa, I was still unmotivated. I forced myself to get my butt out of my warm car with heated seats and head on out. I told myself to shoot for 3 miles first and go from there. My goal for the day was 2 hours, which would roughly be a slow 10 miles and if I was struggling at 3, I could easily turn myself around. The first mile sucked. I was cold and snot was already running down my face. But the first mile always sucks for me in the cold, so I kept pushing until I finally got my groove by mile two…beast mode on!

My attempt at taking a running selfie. I really don’t hold my arms like that.

I was determined to finish this run and finish it strong. When I crossed over to the “hilly” side of the Ma and Pa trail, I had that sinking feeling that I was going to regret doing legs during the morning training session. And you know what…I did. Oh well, I was in beast mode, right?! I kept going until I got close to the end which was only 4 miles. Crap! If I turned back around, I would have to double up somewhere to get in my mileage and there’s no good place to double up. The Ma and Pa trail pretty much ends on an up hill both ways with a bunch of little hills in the middle and my legs were in no shape for hills yesterday.

As I saw the end the of the trail, I had a flashback of the movie Forrest Gump where Forrest said “And That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going.”

I decided, that I’d just keep going. While the trail ended, I could still continue to run into town pick up another mile before I headed back. GUMP MODE ON! So there I was, getting my Gump on…just running in no particular direction. I turned around by mile 5 and headed back. Then my phone buzzed with a reminder, I had to be on a conference call in 15 minutes. Crap! Gump mode off, beast mode off!

I figured that if I stopped, I would cool down and lose my motivation and I worked too hard to find my motivation. I decided to dial in and informed the folks I was on a training run and let them know that I would keep them on mute and chime in only when needed, then kept running. Beast mode back on! Pulled it off without a hitch. Work has been getting in the way lately and I wasn’t going to let it get in the way of yesterday’s run.

The last 4 miles were tough. All up hill, well at least it seemed like it. My legs were really heavy and I was definitely feeling the earlier workout. I struggled up the last monster of a hill and walked it.  Yep…beast mode off. <sigh>

When I made it back to my car, my Garmin showed I was a mile short. WTH?! Only 9 miles and I was 11 minutes shy of my 2 hr goal. I was so annoyed that after all of that trouble and struggle, I was going to come up short. Over my dead body! Beast mode back on and in high gear! I ran around the parking lot and out to the street that you used to access the park until my Garmin turned. DONE AND DONE! As tough as that run was for me, I was very happy with myself for getting over the mental barrier of wanting to give up. It goes to show that when you don’t feel the motivation, dig deep. If it’s not there, dig deeper. It’s there!

Now for the mad dash home to register for the HAT Run! This year, they decided not to do a lottery and open up registration for the 500 spots instead. It took me about a half hour of trying to get in and getting kicked out of the system over and over before I was officially registered. YES! My first ultra marathon is in the making!

BEAST MODE TOTALLY ON!