The JogBlog 3G Mantra™
7 01 2013It was back to school today (for those of you who don’t know, I’m in my second year of a creative and professional writing degree). And it was an all-day day (at least in student terms) which meant I wouldn’t be able to go for my usual run-before-getting-dressed-in-normal-clothes thing. But, I hadn’t forgotten my pledge to do an afternoon run and today was to be that day.
I was all geared up for it. My playwriting seminar was supposed to finish at 2, which meant I’d be home at 3 and so I’d planned to go out for a run at 3 but then the seminar didn’t finish until 2:30 and so that meant I wouldn’t be home until 3:30 which meant that I wouldn’t be running at 3 as planned which unsettled my poor little brain which likes plans not to go awry.
So, as I was cycling home, I wondered how I could get out of going for a run. Then I realised that I couldn’t really get out of it and when I saw someone running down the dreary dual-carriageway in the rain, I thought, well, if he can do it, so can I.
But, as we all know, there are pitfalls and dangers in the house to keep you inside instead of going out running and so I said to myself, when I get in, I will not touch the computer, there will be no email checking, no Facebook checking, no Twitter checking, no emptying my books out of my rucksack, no feeding the cat (sorry looey), no nothing, just
GET IN, GET CHANGED, GET OUT
and, lo! it worked. I got in, I got changed (using the fortnightflo method of getting changed while pretending not to notice you’re getting changed) and I put my Garmin on and did my 1.5 mile route and, sssh, don’t tell anyone, but I actually enjoyed it.
So there you are, the JogBlog 3G Mantra™.
And that’s my first week of Janathon done. How’s your first week been?
well done, maybe your not so uptight after all.
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jogblog Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:18 am
Maybe the Prozac’s working…
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Well done! I find this one quite inspiring, especially given that today I really didn’t feel like putting my shorts on … I felt like going to bed and going to sleep for the rest of January! So thank you
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jogblog Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:18 am
There is no sleeping allowed in Janathon!
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Well done, I know what you mean about the ‘get in, get changed, get out’. I just need to practice it more often
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jogblog Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:19 am
Me too. I’m worried it was beginner’s luck.
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It definitely works but you can’t use it too often cos you’ll get wise to the fact that you’re doing it…
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jogblog Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 9:19 am
Good point! Maybe I’ll wait until Juneathon for the next time.
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Hm, maybe I should try that. I’m notoriously bad at dragging myself outside past five in the afternoon, especially in the winter when it’s dark. It’s probably because around that time my brain switches off for the day and thinks it’s time for bed and I’m exhausted from the mental effort of convincing it it’s not.
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[...] I was determined not to get caught by the faff monster. Home 10 minutes early, I followed JogBlog’s 3G Mantra(TM) and I was changed and ready to go by half five. Once again I was joined by Ginge opening up a [...]
[...] leap on a frosty winter’s day. I took a leaf out of Jogblog’s book and followed her ’3G’ mantra: GET IN, GET CHANGED, GET OUT! In doing so, I discovered that a lunch time run can be as good as a [...]
Little mantras/methods like this have always helped me with habit building – if I can focus on what seems like the easy part (getting in my running shoes), the rest follows. Great advice!
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