Sunday, February 15, 2015

Grandma Murphy

The other day I made a post to Facebook hat made me think about my Grandma Murphy and her sleeping habits.  To more years than I can remember she owned and operated a little corner store name "Murphy's Sundaries".  She was the precursor to 7-11, Kum & Go and Casey's and you could buy nearly anything you needed and was particularly famous for her penny candy.

Getting back to the sleeping habits thing.   Her store opened daily at 10 AM and remained open until 7 PM.  Rather odd hours when you think about it, but normal for her and her customers.  It worked for her, heck it worked for me when I worked retail.  

What does this have to do with sleeping?  Well, my Grandma was not a morning person.  She just didn't move real fast before noon.  That's not to say she wasn't productive, just that she woke up slowly.  I think that's one of the reasons she stayed with her business for so long.  Also, because she was a night owl closing a little later didn't bother her because by 7 o'clock at night she was just getting started!  

The significance of all of this is she was a night owl and she passed those traits on. . . to me!! Now I don't enjoy being a night owl.  I read and hear about all of the successful people who are early risers.  There is the phrase the early bird catches the worm.  I even seem to have my best days when I get started early!

It's just that my body (or mind) will not allow me to make the switch to mornings. Believe me I've tried. It's just that after everything is said and done I enjoy staying up late and getting up a little later.

Now that I think about it though, why should I switch?  I mean it seemed to work for my Grandma for all of those years and she was a fantastic person!!!  Besides that owls eat meat not worms and who likes worms? Enjoy.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Need motivation?

There are times when I need a little (a lot of) motivation. I am a procrastinator by trade and darn good at it!  The result of this expertise is a serious need for motivation.  Motivation to start, motivation to finish, sometimes motivation just to be. 

I've  been know to put on my running gear, sit on the couch and then not go for a run.  Ask my wife and she will tell you story upon story of my best laid plans and my failure to accomplish them.  I better get to the point before I stop writing this blog.

What I'm trying to get at is right now I need motivation to run.  So I've set up a fool proof plan (unbeknownst to several others who's participation is a must)!  First on the list is reading as much as I can about running. It seems the more I read about running the more I want to run (who knew!?).  Currently I am reading Runner's World and 80/20 Running.  Every time I put them down my heart is racing, my mind is imagining a scene from past runs and my body craves the fatigue of a couple of miles.  I love it!

Next in my diabolical plan is challenging a friend to completing a streak in February.  A streak is the number of consecutive days you can run.  To help me with this part of the plan I have also purchased a wall calendar to mark off the days I run and give me a constant visual reminder of my success or failure.

The final part of the plan is talking my daughter into running a marathon and actually making her think it was her idea.  All I had to do was start planning to run a couple of marathons this year while she was around and the next thing you know she asks if I want to run one with her.  Well of course I do!

Hopefully these "tricks" will last long enough to get me to June.  If not I'm sure I can pull another rabbit out of my ASICS!

ENJOY!