Today, I was reminded of why it can suck to live in Oklahoma. My allergies are bad, really bad. I have not felt like this since early spring, and while I normally get sick from allergies in the Spring and Fall, Summer time is usually when I avoid feeling like this, but no….Oklahoma has different plans for me today. I have a killer headache and crazy pressure in my head. I could quite say “stuff it, i’m staying in bed”, and while that does sound quite wonderful, the past 9 months have changed me. My desire to fight and beat whatever obstacles are in front of me has grown strong. While my level of motivation was low this morning, I still decided that I owed it to myself to make the best of the day. I even made my own meme which describes exactly how I feel. I’ve got some face punching to do. 

The other day (when I was feeling just fine) I told myself that while I am on my down/rest week from P90X, I would try to beat my personal best distance on my exercise bike. My personal best stood at 12.8 miles in 30 minutes, and I was determined to beat it. That workout was hard, but I beat my distance and completed 13.01 miles in 30 minutes. I was so happy that my positive attitude and determination paid off. There really is no better feeling than when you achieve one of your goals.

This morning I really did not want to workout, but I looked at myself in the mirror (kleenex in one hand, allergy meds in the other) and told myself, you will work out, you will not quit today, you will succeed. A couple of sneezes later I decided to get ready to jump on the bike. I kept on thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be awesome if I could beat my personal best even with these challenges (on top of my RSD) in front of me. While it felt like my head was about to explode, I set out to do just that, and this is what the trip computer showed me at the end:

13.3 miles completed in 30 minutes! Wowzers.  I beat my personal best by 0.3 of a mile. hit an average speed of 26.6 mph, and burned through 1163 calories. I am so excited, and it just shows that mind over matter is very important. You can achieve anything you set your mind to it you want it bad enough. While I still feel icky, I cam now go about my day knowing that I have achieved something that I did not think was possible when I woke up. What are you doing for your workout today?

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.

All the best,

Brett