Why I Suck

Started the day off dealing with a drunk driver.
Who DUI's at 6:30AM?

As much as I enjoy the occasional bad driver, this morning's situation was different.
That's because I felt this kid (between ages of 16 and 30) was gonna cause an accident.
Call 911 right in front of the State Police barracks. Ya think that would've worked.
Nope!

I should point out however, that you can confidently do it.
Try your best to get make/model and license plate.
Try your best to know where you are, what road, what direction, near what landmark.
Call them up. 911 means business, they get you through quickly. Might save a life.

Back to the situation. Confront the kid at 2 traffic lights.
1. "Hi, and thanks for rolling down your window. I called 911 and reported you for driving while intoxicated. The police will be pulling you over soon." He drives away rather rapidly.
2. "Hi again. You should probably just pull over." Repeat fast getaway.

Then he turns on a sidestreet, I'll hope close to his destination.
Of course he was following a GPS, too. Competition for the text-while-driving teens.

But this isn't about some schmuck that narrowly avoided catastrophe.
This is about a schmuck that is consistently failing to do the right things to reach his athletic goals.
Schmuck = Me.

And that was my thought after I left the gym this morning.
Way before I got this email as I walked out of work in the PM.

From: RunKeeper (GPS running app on my Droid)
Subject: Need a little motivaion?
Relevant Body: "You set a clear goal for yourself to run 120 miles in 24 hours, but you haven't used RunKeeper to log any activities lately. Need a little help staying on track?"

Oh. Did I type that goal?
When was that, like January?

Am I doing what I need to do to hit those numbers?
Am I supposed to be publicly sharing that stretch of a goal?

But, RunKeeper only has it half right (I don't need to report my running to him first of all).
But though he's half right, it's the half I always struggle with.

I know what I need to do.
I know how to stay on track.

It's easier to just sabotage the track.

Swimming
Exiting the pool this morning.
"Hey Mike, that's more strokes than I've ever seen you try. Ever." - Fellow swimmer
Wow, good feedback.
Except it was only 3 strokes (free, back, breast).
And he was right.

This despite the overwhelming obviousity that you need multiple strokes to properly develop your arms.
And THAT is despite the fact that I'm only gonna freestyle in a race.

Good day for it though.
Now I will commit to mixing up the swim strokes. Become better. Stronger.
So easy, but even easier to this point to ignore it.

Running
So then running.
And training in general.

No training Plan this Year.
No thanks. So very helpful. Til you get derailed.
Then you stare at the numbers on your spreadsheet as they slip by. Not for me this year!

All I have are milestones. Hit these numbers kind of milestones.

But I am not doing the things I need to do if I want to train for 120in24.
Which BTW is not my I-actually-wanna-do-this-goal.
I just want to be in shape for it (c'mon, it's just 5mi/hr, 12min/mi pace) so that the 100 miles in 24 hours that I REALLY want to hit feels that much more approachable.

Things I should be doing but do not:

• Just eat well. 
• I can lock down my diet 2 weeks before a race. But 2 months before? "Oh, yeah, I'll start eating better tomorrow." Define tomorrow. Because it's always gonna be the next day.
• Core. 
• The core is just straight ignored.
• Run everyday. 
• Gonna start that again tomorrow. Just didn't want to lose sleep (like writing this blog...)
• Prepare and test strategies. 
• Everything from fuel to gear to crew to race day logistics. I can, without a speck of guilt, just wait until the night before to firm up those plans.

See how easy that stuff is?

Why do I suck?

Because I let that easy stuff pour into a well of excuses.

And actually, ya know even though it's 11:30 on the PM, I'm gonna step out for a bit and squeeze in that daily run.