Pondering a sedentary life

I had a moment of clarity yesterday as I was catching my breath after a fast (25:28) 5k run at lunchtime.

I realised why I was so content with a sedentary life and how wrong I was.

Firstly It occurred to me that I was under the illusion I was in total control of my life.
"I can eat what I want"
"I choose not to exercise because I don't want to"
"exercise is for people not quite right in the head"
"I'm not lazy, instead I am more in control of what i choose to do"

These statements made me realize that what is missing from the life of the sedentary is self discipline. The statements I made to justify my laziness were all flawed. Eating what I wanted was basically disregarding what my body actually needs for what tastes good (and foods that have the larger marketing budget).

Choosing not to exercise is not a choice at all. It's a lack of commitment. When I started running I was out one Sunday and a large girl was walking her dog. She said to me "there is no way I could do that" I was annoyed at her comment...she could do it, I knew by that stage that if anyone chooses to run, they dan do it (as long as they train their body etc) but here was someone who had clearly enjoyed as much self indulgence in fast foods and full days laying on the couch watching movies as I had. The only difference is that I decided I could run, and she told herself she couldn't.

Living life had it's benefits I'm sure of that.....however the more I think about what they were the more I realize that it was all an illusion. If you lay on the couch for a day, do you fell more relaxed the next day? Because I could tell myself that I did, really though you would fell myth better for have spent your energy achieving something amazing.

On a certain route that I have run a few times now I get very depressed and angry at myself. The route takes me past KFC and the McDonalds. As the smell from KFC hits me I regret every mouthful of fat soaked overly processed crap that is marketed as food. I know that in some way I have an accumulated debt of crap food to pay back and I fully intend to get that debt paid off.


In summary have worked out that sedentary people live under the illusion of control and that in truth they will never experience control until they take it and apply it to self discipline. If you are starting running be prepared for a barrage of negative comments about running "it's bad for your knees, joints, little toe, hairs on your ankles" but be wary that these are other peoples reasons why they can't run, don't make them yours....take control and make yourself into the person you want to be... In my case a runner