In which I turn left

All week I was planning a 5-mile tempo (read: fast) run for today.

I have two races next weekend, one of which is a 10K, and I wanted a decent-length prep run this weekend to get race-ready.

I geared up this morning and walked out of the garage...into the rain. Not a downpour, not a sprinkle, but a steady shower.

What to do?

I could bag it, but with my husband on the road this week, my runs were going to be off-schedule and I wouldn't have time to get in anything over 40 minutes.

I swapped my bandana for a baseball cap and started out, thinking, Well, I could shorten it to a 5K distance. That's better than nothing.

Being an all-or-nothing person by nature, I was pretty proud of that option right there. I didn't chuck it all because 5 would be too nasty in the rain, I found a decent alternative. Gold star for me.

At a quarter-mile in I assessed the situation.

It was raining, but I wasn't soaked.

It was cold, but not freezing.

I had a decision to make:

If I turned right, I would take my 5K path. If I turned left, I would be locked into 5 miles.

Right, I thought. I'll go right.

So, you can imagine my surprise at the fork when I found myself going left.

What the hell? I thought we were going right?

Why am I going left?

Seriously, I was supposed to turn right, and I kinda flaked out thinking about my run form and there I was, suddenly locked into 5 miles.

Well, I guess we're doing the whole loop.

I ran the 5 miles and about halfway in it stopped raining. I would have been some pissed at myself if I chose just 3.1 and then it stopped - not that I want to run in the rain for over an hour, but you know what I mean.

All of our weight-loss and maintenance success boils down to decisions. And every day we make a zillion decisions that affect our level of success. I've always said that our victories come not at the scale, but in the thousands of different decisions we make each week.

Also, 99% of this adventure is mental.

Do I turn left or do I turn right?

Do the hard thing, the right thing, the thing that's going to get you what you want.

You will be proud of yourself every single time.

Turn left.

A Bravo sticker to any Dr. Who fans who get the reference. It dovetailed nicely and is one of my favorite episodes.

In which I write all about it

I had the great opportunity recently to write about my weight loss adventure for Massachusetts-based Bay State Parent magazine.

My story's in the October issue, which is out today. Click here to read it via the digital edition (page 38).

Folks in Central and Eastern Massachusetts can find it on your local BSP newsstand.

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Regular readers who may be wondering, "What is she talking about?": An interview with me is featured this week on Heather's Half-Size Me site. Enjoy listening to me talk (with quite a headcold) about losing, maintaining, scheduling and working out.