5 am mornings

Well, thank goodness it’s Friday!! A couple things about my week…

-I’ve been blogging every day. Self-five!! Awwww yeahhhzz

-I’ve also been running every day. Before school. That means the alarm goes off at 5 am and I am out the door by 5:30. Say whaattt?!?

Let me just mention that before this, the coldest weather I ran in was 48 °F. And I only made it about half a mile before returning shivering and frozen while John sat in his computer chair and shrugged “Told ya” (I had been INSISTENT on carrying on with my daily runs. Arrogantly, I told him “A little rain ain’t going to stop me”. Yes, I used “ain’t”. Like a weirdo). Here in Japan, I’ve been running in temperatures averaging about 24°Farenheight. That’s below freezing (my fears of becoming a popsicle are becoming a reality)!!! Poor Californian girl.

What Hanno looks like at 5:45 am

I guess the running started because of a bit of a lull that I was going through. It was nothing serious, just some deepening homesickness and overall dissatisfaction I was feeling with my life, career, the general bulls*t that we put up with as AETs working for a sleazy company. Plus, I felt exhausted all.the.timeee. I felt like I was 52, not 25. I blamed it on the cold weather- it’s impossible to feel energetic when a warm bed is the only thing that brings you happiness.

So, Monday morning, I dragged my tired, shivering body out of bed and unlike the countless times before… I actually got up and ran. Now, don’t give me too much credit. I only made it about 1/4 of the way that I used to run but hey! At least I was up and doing it.

I feel worlds better. I don’t know when food or laziness will find me again- I seem to go on these “running spurts” every now and then, and proclaim “This is the new me!” But one morning, it’s too hard… and then it snowballs to a week. And then I remember exactly how good it feels to sleep in past 6. And then I’m back at square 1.

I’m not going to pretend this time that it’s going to last forever. But it seemed to pull me out of my slump. I was even surprisingly cheerful in the most dreaded class I have. My animation and high spirits caught me off-guard as I found myself smiling a lot more than usual in a school that hates me (again, I’m a little dramatic).

My goal is to take it to two weeks, at which I will reward myself with a new pair of running shorts (don’t worry, I wear leggings under them). At four weeks, it will officially become a habit and I will allow myself to buy a new pair of shoes (yeah yuhhh). At six weeks, people should start to see a difference and the reward will be the zillions of compliments I'm going to get on how skinny I look.

Alright minions!! Happy weekend (Well, Happy Thursday to all yous in America)!

Love these guys