Baby Steps

So I read this on Oprah's website today, it's a Martha Beck special:

5 Pieces of Advice Everyone Ignores (but Shouldn't!)

1. What leaves you feeling bad, do less of. What leaves you feeling good, do more of.
2. To achieve bigger goals, take smaller steps
3. Lie down and rest for a while.
4. When you don't know what to say, try the truth.
5. Free yourself from dysfunctional people by refusing to try to control them. 

So while I haven't practiced them all today (or ever), I found myself talking to myself on my first run in two months saying, "take smaller steps" and kept saying it and managed to run to the end of my short first run without stopping or walking.

Did that make sense?  Sorry, it's late.

I'd like to claim that I made the connection from 'the smaller steps' comment to my run tonight, but I had a little help, part of the explanation Martha Beck wrote is as follows:

As a teenager, I often injured myself trying to run mountain trails. Then I noticed that bikers downshift to climb hills. I began mimicking them, taking steps so tiny they felt inconsequential. This allowed me to run uphill quickly without getting tired, winded, or hurt. The one race in which I actually placed was on a mountain trail where I scurried along like a mouse on a mission, zipping past runners whose gazelle-like leaps were taxing their lungs and ruining their knees.

 So, okay I didn't place in any race, but tonight, I did finish.

:)

Yeah me!