Your excuses are stupid

I just finished Matt Long's "The Long Run".  Literally just moments ago.

This book has been out a while and you've probably already heard about it.  A New York city fire fighter who was run over by a bus while biking, sustained absolutely horrific injuries (HORRIFIC), and comes back to run the NYC marathon... oh, and an IRON MAN!  His physical struggle was only half the battle.  Prior to his accident he was already an Iron Man and a Boston Qualifier.  He then had to face the prospect of never even walking again.  After reading about all that he went through just so he could stand, let alone run, I started thinking about all the lame excuses I concoct for the things that I'm simply scared to try.  Not even athletically, just in life.

It also gets me thinking about the way people usually respond when I say that I have/am running a marathon.  It's almost always the same thing.  "Wow.  Well, I could never do that because... blah, blah, bad knees, blah."  I don't even ask or say that they should take on the challenge.  They just instinctively start unloading defensive excuses.  This only bothers me because instead of instead of just saying "you know what?  Putting myself through extreme discomfort for 4+ hours really just doesn't appeal to me." they start in with the "cant's".  Maybe rock climbing changed your life.  Being one with nature and experiencing it from the eyes of a soaring eagle (all rock climbers are hippies aren't they?), and I'll be honest with you, I could totally rock climb.  Give me some lessons and some time and I could climb the shit out of some rocks.

BUT... dangling hundreds of feet above solid ground while visualizing my own painful death drop just doesn't appeal to me.   Perhaps if there were a net?

Today at work a guy came in and was telling us stories about when he was in the military.  He claimed that every month they had to run the distance of a marathon and do it with their packs on.  Wow.  And I bitch about my crappy hydration belt.

I'm not using the word "can't" anymore about anything that I do.  I've said before that I can't run in the morning.  The fact is, I'm a lazy shit who lacks the will power that running in the early am requires.  Nothing wrong with that.  I just have to get it done at night.  No excuses.

In Addition: My mom just commented on my facebook page "I take this to mean that my "I can't walk" excuse is not worthy either."  My mom has Fredrick's Ataxia, a form of Muscular Dystrophy.  Like Jerry's Kids.  Anyhow, she must be in a mood this morning so she's bickering with me about the point of my post.  Mom, you display the exact behavior that I was pointing out above.  My mom is currently attending Texas A&M in Commerce and is well on her way to a bachelors degree.  She has overcome numerous obstacles, handicap and divorce, to achieve more on her own than some able bodied people that I know.  In addition to getting her degree, she stays up until 5 am drinking beer with her buddies on her birthday (which I failed to do that evening).  Sorry it took me a little to put in this edit.  I've got gravy from scratch on the stove, just the way you taught me to make it.  So there ya go mom.  A marathon isn't always a foot race.

Will you stop bitchen now?

Another edit: "haha Loved it, But you failed to mention about the modification. I'm all about being able to get it done through modification. p.s. I love you! ♥"