Epiphany

Today's walk did not flow.  I wasn't into it and Banks seriously got on my nerves. Yes, for the umpteenth time, I KNOW I need to get him better trained on the leash, for both our sake, but where on earth am I going to find the time for a class?

After I got home from work, close to 5:00, Banks and I headed to Stacy Park.  I don't think I've ever done that right after work, and there were a lot of people and their dogs there. Much pulling of the leash, and (this drives me crazy, for some reason) sniffing of the ground.   What is he, a bloodhound?  Plus, Big Stacy kind of flows into Little Stacy, but  not smoothly, and there were lots of places where I couldn't decide whether to stay on a path or walk on the road, and at one point I didn't realize the terrain underneath me was uneven, and I stepped down, hard, with my knee hyperextended.  Waaaah.  And it was too hot for a hoodie, and the pants I was wearing didn't have pockets, so I was carrying my ipod in one hand and juggling Banks in the other, with my plastic poop bag tucked into my wasteband.  Attractive.
It was not fertile ground for an epiphany, but I had one. Not an "aha moment," but a real mindblower. Are you ready?  Here it is:

If I do this -- if I go a whole year walking five miles a day, six days a week, and let my body rest one day a week -- then on January 1, 2013, I will be able to look back on 2012 and say that I did not waste one single day.

Wow.

That's not the same as saying I made the absolute most of every day, or didn't commit some boneheaded action on any one of them.  But even if I have a headache that lasts half a day, or sink into self-pitying slackerdom, or eat five slices of pizza......if I've walked five miles, the day has not been wasted.  And if my tired muscles are resting and recuperating in preparation for the next 30 miles, that day has not been wasted either.

Talk about motivation.  Right now I can look back and say "I did not waste one single day in January."  And even that feels pretty great.