Are You a Creature of Habit?

My road. Start and finish.

Same run, different day.

I live in a pretty large development in my town. Lots of cross streets, parallel long roads, hills, and plenty of houses. I run mostly in the dark. 4:30 in the a.m. kind of dark. I run when everyone in my house is asleep. I run when everyone in the neighborhood is asleep. I also run with a large group of women..at 4:30 in the a.m, in the dark, when we should ALL be asleep.

What started as the only way to get a run in, turned into half marathon training, and than full marathon training. It made 4:30 in the a.m. a necessity, a habit, and (i have to admit), fun.

All good things must come to an end, and my 4:30 runs are over. The new year has brought a new schedule in my household and has thrown my running habit to a bittersweet end.

Its been a few weeks now, and i have found not only was i REALLY comfortable in my routine, but i became a creature of habit. It had been months since i even attempted to change up a workout, try anything, new, or even started a run…in daylight. I had become satisfied with my schedule, easy, set, and reliable.

Out with the old, In with the new.

So, are you like me? Are you a creature of habit? Does your calendar have the same workouts penciled in like mine. Does your  Runkeeper read off the same days, the same runs, for months on end? Can you fill in the blank like this…”Tuesday is my _____ day” and everyone you know inserts the word RUN?

I will be the first to admit. When i learned of my new schedule, i was scared, i think i may have even cried. I became so dependent on my training “routine”, i couldn’t even think about changing. I couldn’t imagine running without my 4:30 am group. I could not imagine not seeing them and being a part of their lives weekly.

But something else happened. I stepped out of the comfort zone, i boo hoo’d away my creature of habit.

You know what? Its not so bad. And while this entire blog may seem a little dramatic… i mean really…who cries over missing a 4:30 run? Well, now you know.

But since my new schedule has begun, i have tried so many other things. Things i was missing because I was “ok” with my routine. I have tried (indoor)”performance cycling”, with a bunch of Ironman’ers, (now, that’s intimidating), i have tried fitness yoga, gone back to Body Pump, and just found a new love, Body Combat. I have ridden miles and miles on the stationary bike at the gym. I have had to run on the treadmill, in the heat of the gym, with sweaty smelly people next to me. (wait…that wasn’t fun, but you get it?) I even put away 7 miles on the treadmill in the gym’s “dungeon”.

I have seen people i haven’t seen in a while, worked out with old friends, and ran with some new ones. I have been able to stay up late, have a glass of wine, and NOT have to get up at 4am to run!

I’m doing o.k. I’m doing great. So, with a new year, a new you, I encourage you to try something, new, something fun, something outside of your habit.

Scare off your creature!

Run Jersey Strong,

Cindy