Today's Challenge: Move

I took a couple weeks off from running. Studying for an interview, a trip, my wife on a business trip (solo Dad with 2 kids), and working on my house meant I had to cut something. So I cut running.

Thankfully, the house has been a good physical activity that has included a bit of movement to keep me happy. You see, I am happy when I am physical.

For me, running, swimming, biking, and everything else I do is not just to stay in shape, it's to stay happy. Read any number of studies and think about our past. Humans were meant to move.

So this morning I got in a run and I feel awesome. The thing is, before the run, and last night I knew I would go for a run today but I did not want to. I am sure you probably don't want to either.

Here was my thinking yesterday:

• I am too sore from house work (painting, caulking, scraping paint).
• I have put on weight not working out the past 3 weeks.
• My sneakers are probably too old and I will be sore.
• I'll probably get blisters.
• Blah Blah Blah

RUN!

I woke up at 6:15 AM this morning and felt great. Surprising since last night I went to bed about 10 after taking some Advil since I was aching all over. I was painting the house this weekend and spent a solid two days working on the house. It is coming along great but I did not expect to wake up feeling good.

So, I ignored my few aches and pains. I stuffed my fat ass into a pair of running shorts. I laced up those old sneakers. And I pounded the pavement.

As I ran I felt free. I felt alive. I felt good.

Ya, it was not my best run, my fastest, or my cleanest. But I did it.

As I thought about this I realized we are just meant to move. This movement can come in many forms. For example, if you are like me you don't wake up thinking, how can I squeeze in some time to paint the house today? But these days I think that. Is it just the fact that house is going to look good? Maybe a bit but a lot of it is climbing up and down that ladder. It is movement.

When I bought our current house I had many people tell me it was a mistake. They said, "You should have gotten a new house so you don't need to do any work on it for 5-10 years."

You know what those people were telling me? You need to find more ways to not move.

Screw that.

I think you should buy that house that needs a coat of paint. It needs some work done. Don't know how to do it? Great, learn. I sure as sunshine don't know how to do a lot of what I do. I just figure it out.

The best part of figuring it out and doing it is you get so many intangible benefits. You get exercise. You get a sense of accomplishment. And you get to know you just paid yourself first since you never paid some contractor to do a job you won't be happy with since it took longer than you expected and cost more than you wanted to pay.

So, for me. I say, find more ways to move. Find more ways to learn. Find more ways to work with your hands. Even though you think that it will suck, you'll thank yourself in the end for having done it.

Your challenge today? Move.