Monday, July 19th: A woman, a plan, a Canal Street

Training plans are key. We all know that. But what about the rest of your life? What is the point of a plan if it means you have to miss out on the things that are important to you? When is it worth sacrificing for the sake of Tough Mudder?

All week I'd imagined that Saturday I would wake up in the morning, go to spinning class, and then go the farmer's market on the way home. I wanted my roommates to wake up to fresh flowers in a vase and some freshly baked pumpkin scones. Then we would all laugh and throw money in the air and Matt Damon would come over and read us Harry Potter. In that plan, I looked like this:

I had forgotten about how much I love fun, specifically fun in the form of staying at Piano's dancing until 4am. That fun looked like this:

Although it was 92 degrees, I tried to go running. That unfun looked like this:

So instead of following my training plan, I hung out with my roommates watching Mad Men for nine hours, complaining about how hot it was. That looked like this:

Even though at first I was worried about skipping a workout, I soon realized two things:

1. A training plan is important--but a key component of it is flexibility. You have to be able to skip a workout now and then when fun things happen. Training does take hard work and discipline, and I'm happy to say Sunday I was back on track doing hill repeats in Central Park.

2. Do NOT buy tequila shots for strangers, because while money may not feel real at night, in the light of day it is incredibly real. And now I have none. It looks like this: