Wednesday, February 22, 2012

FAT Tuesday...

Lent starts today!

I was raised Episcopalian, so every year, right about halfway through Shrove Tuesday (whoa, gettin' all official on ya aren't I??) I sit around contemplating what is going on in my life that shouldn't be, or what isn't going on in my life that should be. Some years that's meant giving up complaining (10th grade), my nightlight (kindergarten), or chocolate (too many times to remember). Others it's meant consciously setting aside 10 minutes a day for myself and my God.

For many people, Lent is about giving something up, and I've definitely done that majority of my years, but every once in a while I try to create a little twist by doing something for the 40 days.

This year, I'm not giving up anything.
  • not my athleticism
  • not my metabolism
  • not my hot bod self-esteem

This whole going-into-retirement thing (I once called myself a "runner") turned out to not be such a good idea for my waistline, my energy levels, and, honestly, my view of myself. Laugh though you might, I'm pretty sick of always being conscious of my eating habits because I'm not doing anything to negate that caloric intake.

So this year, I'm running.

Again, laugh though you might, this is gonna be tough. There are a lot of Christians who scoff at those who use Lent as a second attempt at New Year's Resolutions (remember those? yikes...), but this, I assure you, is a genuine tackle of temptation. If you've ever been on a team and had to run workouts on your own, you might know the temptation I speak of: In the morning, you don't want to get out of your warm, cozy bed to go run, and by the end of the day, the allure of dinner with family or an adventure with friends is an all-too-easy alternative to the run.

Not this time.

I don't plan to train too intensely, so I'm not really worried about the whole giving-my-body-a-rest thing. Just in case I get to that point though, I've gone ahead and written in a stipulation: any day I don't run, I can't eat any dessert. That's motivation enough!

So keep me accountable, y'all! Anyone else have plans for Lent?

-M

1 comment:

  1. You can easily guess what I'm giving up...and its hard! DD and B&J. You help me and I'll help you. Much love.

    ReplyDelete