reasons to be positive

I've found on previous attempts at giving up smoking that its pretty easy to find reasons to be negative.....

"i'm not feeling like....."

"i'm not able to..."

"it was much nicer when......"

And I nearly caught myself out yesterday....

This stop smoking attempt (the final successful one!) has been so much smoother than previous efforts, simply because i've found the perfect substitute for nicotine..... exercise.... that and the idea of facing up to something as tough as a triathlon....

so, I was with hindsight, rather cross with myself when I yesterday started to think negatively..

I had previously mentioned that my legs were feeling pretty tired, and so I set out on my evening 40 min run feeling a bit stiff..... after a few mins, things seemed to have loosened up OK though.... and so I plodded on.... the pace was gentle... i'm back to 10min pace....

But after 20mins, my legs just seemed to be made of lead.... they didn't want to do the work at all....

and my mind started to agree....

so... it took a huge stiff talking to myself...... "how on earth did I think I was going to complete a bloody half ironman if I stopped running after 20 bloody minutes just because my legs ached?"

And I plodded on....

... and ran the full 40 mins....

I was really really chuffed with myself.... my real reason to be positive....

I was walking like an athritic 90 year old... but...... i'd not given up... i'd kept my head up, and kept on going!

To add to the self satisfaction, my legs ached like hell, but the tendon that had been troubling/worrying me just didn't figure.... i'd been right to gently run through the discomfort... i'd found the right balance between discomfort and pain, and made a good call....

now.... my legs... that's a different matter.... they feel like they've just run an ultra marathon... but thats only aches... and they'll recover quickly.... a rest day on Tuesday... and maybe another on Wednesday if they still feel tired...

But overall... a huge victory for me in the battle against smoking..... and my reasons to be positive