Have to thank Rachel again…CBP was on OPT!
The 4th of July passed uneventfully on the Seacoast (my little region of New Hampshire), since it rained a bit and the fireworks in Portsmouth were postponed. Me and Andrew managed to get out for a walk at the newly converted pedestrian bridge that takes bikers and walkers around the Spaulding Turnpike. It was so hot! I’m not used to 85 degrees…
I found this list of tips on how to write a book from actual authors on Not Martha. It was a little overwhelming, but since I’m in the business of writing a book myself, I pushed through them all. Here’s the short version:
1. Stay organized.
2. Write often; if not every day, every scheduled day.
3. Just do it.
I often draw parallels between my running and my writing, and #2 and #3 apply very well to running. Getting out there and doing it is half the battle in many things in life, but motivation is more difficult when people think you’re a little crazy (“Why are you going running again?” or “Do you really think you can write a book?”).
I think the part that people often don’t mention–the flip side or counterpoint to “just doing it”–is that it’s equally important to evaluate. How well am I running? How well am I writing? Because a little evaluation can point you in a more productive direction. I’ve learned that it is, in fact, possible to run too much–the week I ran 5 miles a day 5 days in a row, I was really, really unhappy. I found I needed to split it up: 5 miles one day, 3 miles one day, sprints one day.
The thing is, I never would have learned that if I hadn’t tried running 5 miles a day. I had to get out there and do it before I could evaluate.
Sometimes it’s good to treat life, or major life tasks, like an experiment. It helps you take the things you want to do less seriously, and also, I think helps you actually meet your goals. In 12 years, I’ve managed to run dozens of races, including two 15k’s and three half-marathons.
Of course, there are some areas of life that should not be treated experimentally…for instance, please learn from my experience that an entire bowl of cookie dough is never a good thing, no matter how hungry you are.
