Kicking The Habit

When I go running, some days just seem to be perfect running days. I can tell from the start that it´s going to be an enjoyable run. Every movement is easy, my heart is pounding along at a rate which is halfway befitting my age (ahem!), I breathe easily and zoom along feeling great.

Today was not one of those days. My legs felt like I was wearing leaden shoes (I wasn´t). After a couple of minutes, I felt like I needed an oxygen mask (I didn´t have one with me). And my pulse sped along at a breathtaking rate (hence the need for oxygen), while I didn´t as much race, but rather toil onward.

My tortured look probably resembled that of Emil Zatopek, though he still managed to display some sort of elegance (which I didn´t), and he was a lot faster than I´ll ever be.

(Digression: Czech runner Emil Zatopek won gold in the 5 km and 10 km runs at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the marathon for the first time in his life, and won. He never looked as if he was particularly enjoying it, and because of the elegance he completely lacked to display when running, he was nicknamed "The Locomotive". End of digression.)

In short, it was a pretty horrid run.

While I was dragging myself along wishing it was over, the thought of kicking my smoking habit crossed my mind. In fact, it didn´t only cross my mind. It crept right into it and sat and lingered there, and it kept nagging me.

Ok, I thought, I´ll give it a try. For starters, I´ll skip the morning cigarette with my coffee. In fact, I´m going to have a nice cup of tea. Lady Grey, hmmm! (I was also feeling very thirsty after having lost about a gallon of liquid because I was sweating so hard, despite the near freezing temperature.)

When I got back, I made a large pot of coffee for my sweetheart and poured a large mug of tea for myself. Hmmm ... the coffee smelled tempting. So I ended up having a little cup of coffee before drinking my large mug of tea.

After the coffee, I felt much better. Needless to say, I then lit my morning cigarette, too. And it went very well with the tea!