Nobody puts baby in the corner

Recently I was forced to quit something and this was NOT an easy thing for me to do. I like to fight, plain and simple. And I am not alright with the fact that I can still fail at something even when I give it all I’ve got. That is a hard pill for me to swallow.

I am not a quitter. I hate quitting. It is not a word in my vocabulary. Stubborn to a fault some may say.

Saturday morning, I set my alarm for 8:00 am to go out and log 8 miles. But my body simply wouldn’t listen…I was too exhausted. So I didn’t get out of bed until noon when it was 90+ degrees outside. But not being a quitter, I decided nothing was going to stop me from getting my run in.

Apparently I had underestimated the heat and the humidity. By mile 3, I was hurting…bad. I stopped under a tree in the shade to rest and stretch. The way back to my car was to the left. The additional 5 miles were to my right. Taking in as deep a breath as my incapacitated lungs allowed, I headed left.

This decision lasted all of about 4 strides before I got into a verbal argument with myself right there on the street. The determination took over and I turned around and headed right. I hit two more crossroads on the run but never doubted myself again. Come hell or high water (or dehydration and exhaustion) I was doing my 8 miles.

Last night, I found myself in the midst of another battle. This time it was with my air conditioner and the new indoor swimming pool it has provided me with…“The Mold Pit” as I affectionately refer to it. The Mold Pit has been bitching me around for the past few weeks but with T’s assistance, I launched a counter attack.

Once the leak had been stopped, I made a deal with myself that I would wet vac the floor for one hour. Turns out that in light of two extenuating circumstances this was an extremely long time. The heat from the portable heater I was using to dry the carpet out coupled with the fact that I could only do it Spiderman style from on top of my bed made this experience about as enjoyable as my first and last day of Hot Yoga.

My arms ached after about 10 minutes. But I turned up the iPod and kept at it. Twenty minutes later I thought I was going to die. I took a five minute break to empty out the water I had collected and pat myself on the back for my efforts before I was back to work. And work I did until that last minute was up.

What does all of this amount to? What life lesson did I learn this time? Well here is it…99% of the time, quitting is a bad thing. I am glad that I have to fortitude and/or stupidity to keep going with things even sometimes against my better judgment.

But I’ve learned that sometimes it takes more strength to listen to that better judgment and walk away from something. That if you can say with conviction that you tried your best, gave it your all and still somehow came up short, that is ok. I know my limits.

Sometimes quitting can be the best thing you can do for yourself.