Sweet Little Lies

When I try to use psychology on myself, it usually doesn't work. For example, I don't understand those people that can set their clocks ten minutes fast and use that as a system for getting places on time. When I do that, I know I've done it, and so I just give myself extra time.

But one place where I can manipulate myself and it works is in running. When I run outside, I run three loops, each of which connects pretty close to my starting point. As I'm beginning the run, and all the way through it I tell myself I can bail out at the end of any loop and not do all three if I don't feel up to it.

The first loop (A) is the longest one. It's about 28 minutes around. When I get to the end of that one, I am usually not quite tired enough to want to stop yet. And so I tell myself that I'll just do the B loop and then come home. Loop B is about fifteen minutes, and when I'm at the end of that one, I am tired. But at the end of part B, the C loop is sooo little and small, maybe just seven minutes, I think to myself, I can do it because it's so short. And that's how I get myself to run fifty minutes telling myself the whole way that I can stop anytime.

I also talk to myself while I run. I say, when I get to that signpost I'll walk for a minute if I feel I need to. When I get to that signpost, I say, I can keep going, maybe just until that corner. Then I'll walk if I need to. And when I get to the corner, I say, I'm okay, I can go a little bit longer.

I also tell myself about the food I'm going to eat when I get home, hehe.

It's funny to me that I can't lie to myself about some things, like changing the clock, but I can lie to myself all the way through a workout and believe myself every time. I told Shawn about it and he said it's not lying; it's just setting up success. (I think he was lying.)

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