Anal AND Annoying

Sooo, if you read the comments on my blog you will have seen that one friend recently requested a blog post about how anal and annoying I am!  Now, SOME people might consider a comment like that rude...or at very least a little judgmental...  But you have to KNOW this friend...then it is just FUNNY.  What makes it even funnier is how monumentally true it is!

I AM anal....and it IS annoying!  But I'm ok with that.  It hasn't always served me well in ALL areas of my life.  I have control issues (my son can attest to that) and my need to control things did neither him nor I any favours when I was raising him.  My control issues also make me a bit of a psycho because I have irrational fears of pretty much anything out of my control (which includes most of the world!).  So, what was I saying about being ok with it?  hmmmm...

Oh yah!  I am ok with it because in some cases it works well for me.  And since this is a running blog...it has served me especially well with running.  I started running with the Couch to 5K program.  I listened to a podcast which told me when to run and when to walk and when to stop.  It was perfect for me.  I knew what to expect each and every time I ran and stopping wasn't a question... I had to do what I was being told to do (which drove this same friend insane when I got to the point that I was willing to run with her...I still remember her ready to kill me because we were on a downhill and she wanted to take advantage of it and start running...but my podcast hadn't given me the go-ahead yet.  Still surprised she didn't shove me under the next passing car). 

When I finished the Couch to 5K I then went on to the Gateway to 10k, training for the Bloomsday 12K and then began a routine of running every second day.  It is not an option for me.  Weather doesn't matter.  The "rule" is I run on running days.  I don't see it as an option...and while people think I am insane - I am training for a half marathon... If I had given myself the option to quit - if I didn't follow the plan in a hugely anal, annoying way....I would have quit...long ago.... I know it.

I have gotten slightly more relaxed about my routine.  Recently, I cut back my lunch-time workouts to only 2 days/week instead of 5 (though I still go to the gym for core work and stretching those other 3 days) and though I am following a new training plan I have given myself a little bit of leeway with it.  Today was to be my long run day (though only 8k) and tomorrow an easy 4k... But I had signed up for a 10k which is tomorrow so I did my short run today and will do the 10k tomorrow.  Just like that...I changed things up!  Like a crazy woman!! 

But after that...it's back to my schedule, back to my routine, back to being anal and annoying....because anal and annoying keeps me running!