Now THAT is a reason.
Could you now please beat that mantra into my lobotomized monkey brain as i stuff yet another “snack sized” Take 5 inIo my mouth and then bury the empty wrapper AND empty bag in the garbage??!?!?!

Yes. I need this mantra. For running as well as my overwhelming Take 5 candybar/ sugar intake.

Sometimes they shit their own pants? NO.WAY. This is NEWS TO ME. Must Google.

I completely agree. With all of it. :) And I went running Saturday morning & tripped. I saw no one on my 3-mile route until I tripped. Then I saw, like 5 people! And every time I bend my knee it starts bleeding again. TMI? Sorry.

Linda, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for inspiring me to take up running again! Over the summer when you first started thinking of a triathalon, and you were nervous about the swimming aspect but DID IT ANYWAY, you totally inspired me to stop making excuses and just fucking run, already. It sucked giant sweaty hairy balls at first. I huffed and puffed and maybe even puked a little TRYING to run/walk 2miles, but it got easier! and now, just 3 months later, i feel FUCKING GREAT! In the past three months I’ve toned up (lost a pant size, eventhough that wasn’t a goal – it sure as shit feels nice!), I can RUN three full miles, and I’m just so damn proud of myself fo DOING something and not allowing my brain to talk me out of it. I’ve even committed to a few 5ks, and have my sights on a 1/2 marathon in the spring (OMG!)

Now, every morning I wake up at 5:55am, bitch and moan about how stupid running is, but i squeeze my jiggle into my running pants, strap on my shoes and go for at least two miles, but latley it’s been at least 3. afterwards I feel AMAZING and proud that I did somethimg. good. for MYSELF!

thanks for being an inspriation, and thanks for sharing your expieriences and thoughts through-out…helps me know i’m not alone, and continues to inspire!

I live north of you and I definitely recommend the couch. It’s too yukky to be outside, fo sho. I also share your dislike of runners and let’s add bicyclists to the list as well. They’re all bastards. (:-D

I like how you produced a List of Cranky and ended it on a motivating note.

That…is hard to do.

FUCK YEAH!

You make me want to go out and run and take over the world. But then I just reread the reasons it’s better to stay home and I’m ok with that too.

OMG this had me peeing (Or is that pooping) in pants. Especially the part about the $3 gummi bear. And I wrote a whole post about the whole pooping while running thing because I am OH so cool like that…

http://rollingofftheedge.blogspot.com/2009/08/upon-researching.html

Anyway, YOU CAN DO IT!

KICK. ASS.

We runners are total assholes.

Now, go buy yourself some caffeinated GU. All the caffeine benefits of coffee, none of the “having to make it” bullshit at 6am.

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right” ~Henry Ford.

I was really getting behind every reason you had to begin with…and now I feel guilty after reading the last bit. Le sigh. Keep on motivatin’ me. I’m 12 weeks postpartum and have run THRICE since baby-having.

Hahahahahaha, LMFAO at #5. I do run some, and you’ve really been inspiring me lately; you’re way better than me at getting up and going in the mornings! That is the hardest. Rock on.

HA! After a 10k this weekend, I made my husband stop at 2 separate gas stations on the way home. I wasn’t going to make it. We runners are disgusting! But damn, doesn’t it feel great when you are done?!

#5 had me shooting my beverage out of my nose: a sure sign of a Freaking Great Blog Post!

Kudos to you for getting it done. I will stay over here with my videos and walking routine. I HATE RUNNING. full stop. I have tried..I was a flipping athlete in high school and hated it then. I took a god damn running class in college (!!) and still hate it. I will never like it no matter what all the “you have to run past that point of pain” self-righteous douchebags say. I’ve run past it and you know what – it still sucks donkey balls!

HOWEVER, I think it’s awesome that you are doing it despite all the shit and that you set a huge goal for yourself and are working towards it. It’s a big motivation for all of us, even if we hate running with a passion.

Ouch. Lighten up on the runners. We’re not that bad.

I love this post. It’s very similar to what I go through every night at 8 p.m. (I no longer trust myself to get up early to run). I wish I were doing NOLA with you but I’m already traveling for San Diego Marathon…the whole thing. I recently logged all my runs into this website and in total, since I’ve started running again, I’ve only run 38 miles. And yet by June I will be running 26.2 all at once. I’m trying not to freak myself out about it.

And the spit comment? Cracked me up. So accurate. I hate running spit.

Also, you rock.

As someone who is planning on running the NOLA 1/2, the last reason to do it, is one of the ONLY thing that gets me out of bed* to run up and down the hills, no the friggin’ mountains, in my neighborhood. The other things that help are YOU GUYS. Knowing there are others out there heaving, sweating, blowing snot, chugging, walking when you can and should run, but are “in the at least my legs are moving” mode, keeps me moving.

*OK, so technically, I haven’t started, but I just came up with my training schedule last night, so it’s up at 5 and running tomorrow morning.

Ohmygod. Now I want a damned Take 5.

Your description of runners made me laugh. Pretty much totally true.

Also, have you read DoctorMama? You might want to check out her site, she’s got great advice.

I go through the list of reasons not to run every morning. The thing that keeps me motivated is actually my jiggly butt. No one sees it at 5:30 in the morning and maybe it’ll get less jiggly.

Oh, and I used to run with this chick who did 6 marathons every year. She did one in East Tennessee in the mountains and she had diarrhea BEFORE the marathon, but ran it anyway(WTF?). She said she had to run into the woods three times to relieve herself and used leaves (leaves!!) to clean herself. And of course, she finished, but was pissed about her time due to the shitting in the woods.

Keep on keepin’ on, girl! I don’t have to actually know you to be proud of you, right? Because I am.

One small piece of advice: DO KEGELS. Shit won’t be the only thing that leaves your body while running.

Only run when chased. Preferably by zombies or bears. Do yoga instead. It’s the only exercise where you get to take a nap at the end!

Dude, I have a pants-shitting story for you:

Last spring I was taking a noon weights class. I’d often stay to do 2-3 miles on the treadmill afterwards, despite the fact that running usually makes me need to take an EMERGENCY poop.

So I’d do my time on the treadmill, then go into the ladies locker room, where one of the old ladies in the weights class would be getting ready. In the 25 minutes I’d been on the treadmill, she’d showered, dried, lotioned, deodorant-ed, and blow dried her hair. And curled it. And always, ALWAYS I’d walk in with my ass cheeks squeezed together as she began picking out the curls in her hair. You know, the old lady hairdo with the helment hair. Yep. It takes time and a lot of aqua-net.

My only recourse? Walk past her, hit the wall-mounted dryer and use the farthest (of a whole 2) stalls away to do the deed. It wasn’t in my control man.

Better to shit your own pants than someone else’s.

I’m a much better runner in my head than I am in practice – I think that’s my problem. I’m always so crushed/surprised at the pain, the lungs exploding, the asthmatic breathing after a scant 1/2 mile trot when I think I should be banging out 2 miles like a Nike ad.

Totally my morning. Except substitute getting my ass out of bed to go to my swim aerobics class and water ab class. And you know what? I got up and went anyway. And you know what? You’re right, I totally feel good about it.

Keep on keeping on!

Two words: snot rockets.

Funny! You know the real problem with running? IT HURTS MY BOOBS! Yeah big boobs + running = a major pain in my chest. I’ll stick to swimming until I can afford to buy some cute perky little boobs!

“lacing up your running shoes which were probably manufactured out of emissions-producing non-sustainable polar bear fetus”

::dies::

Nice post. I’m sure you’ve heard that 90% of running is in your head; the rest is mental. Thanks for the motivation. I go through this everytime I head out to run alone. I never go through it when I’m on my way to meet my running buds. Something to consider!

I love reading these posts – I feel like they are stacking up in my brain and someday I will think of them when I say yes to running again.

Dammit, now I feel guilty for not running today. And eating that brownie.

#9 made me blow coffee through my nose. Hilarious!

Oh, you’re so good. Also, there is weather is the excuse I’m giving for everything from here on out.

Nutter Butters, coffee, gummy bears, and Take Five bars all in the same post? Now I need a snack, dammit. Still not inspired to take up running though.

Good luck to you!

Hell yeah!

LOL! Here’s some more info about #5, or rather what it’s called. Sorry, I found it terribly amusing. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Runner's%20Trots

I swear you just opened up my brain and wrote down what I think when the alarm clock goes off.

It is almost a taste of the forbidden in the exhilarating can-do-ness it gives.

Damn right, Linda.

Oh, and by the way? You’re a badass.

Wow. Really, wow. If you can get up in the dark and cold to RUN (which, I’m pretty sure is the worst form of torture ever invented) then I can certainly take my lazy ass downstairs to do my unopened Denise Austin DVD. Hey, gotta start somewhere, right??

God, I hope I get to a point where I find that boldfaced sentence satisfying. Right now, I’m just beginning my real fitness journey and I do NOT feel that way at all.

Also, my husband bikes like a maniac (I knwo it’s not quite the same), but they SUGGEST to drink coffee before riding. Something about dilating blood vessels and keeping your energy up. True story.

Ha! My hubby came home with a bag o’ Gummi Squares tonight. I can’t stop giggling. Told him I hope he doesn’t crap his own pants while running his first half marathon this weekend. Because I am ALL KINDS of supportive. :)

I hate running. I hate it so much I’m starting to like it.

What I LOVE about your blog – and the reason, at heart, it’s my favorito burrito – is that you do what you do without judging anyone. For the love of Christ almighty, if I had a nut for every blog I read that preached I’d be a happy squirrel.

I also love that you do awesome stuff and always make me laugh in a new and creative way.

I hate running. Especially running outside. So I sucked it up and bought a treadmill. Now I can run inside whenever I want/have the time/need to. I’m finally training for my first 5K, on Thanksgiving, and having a treadmill has really helped. My husband works super early, so I can’t go outside to run in the mornings. Your list made me laugh. I love reading your posts. Sorry that Dylan is sick. Kids are no fun when they’re sick.

I was planning to keep up my 3x a week run even when the weather started turning colder – even in snow I said! But of course, I haven’t. Because everytime I’m out there, I start out and I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I swear to myself, just go a 1/2 mile, just go a mile, ok walk this part, ok run to here and you can stop. But once I get going, I feel so so good and I feel like I’m accomplished something. Not a feeling a get when I finish a workout tape.
You given me inspiration to get out the warmer clothes, load up the mp3 player and get my ass back outside.

Well I’m a runner and I’ve never heard of square gummi bears and I don’t have any celery in my fridge.

But I know of the elitism, and it can certainly get annoying.

I love running though, even now when my 5 month post partum ass STILL jiggles. It nearly has a resonance all its own.