In 1986, I was sitting on the floor of Joanie Greggain’s Marina District exercise studio and I thought, “I wonder if I can combine writing and fitness.” Thus, a career was born. It’s been a long, exciting, circuitous journey, and I am lucky and fortunate. Throughout this career, I have been a certified as a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, Spin instructor, yoga teacher, and Zumba teacher. One thing I never did, though, was run more than a mile or two at a time.
The thing is, though, running has a lot in common with writing. In fact, there is a history of writers who run and writers who write about their running, including Murakami, Louisa May Alcott, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Often, when I say I’m a writer (this just happened yesterday), people ask, “how do you do it?”
In fact, writing is a lot like running. You just have to do it. Ass in chair. Bird by bird, as Anne Lamott titled her writing book. The title comes from her father. When her brother had to write a book report on birds and he was overwhelmed with the task at hand, he asked their father how to get it done and their father said, “bird by bird.”
Today, I had to do two things: Write and Run. I have a due date for my novel and a due date for the Dopey Challenge, and both goals require the same thing, although they are also different: ass in chair. feet on ground. In other words, you can’t wait for inspiration or to be in the mood. You just have to sit down and work or go outside and run.
Yesterday, I wrote about 2,000 words and I went to bed last night knowing that the story I told wasn’t quite right in terms of where I am going in my longer work. Part of writing, though, ironically, is moving away from the work and contemplating what’s not right and what the book needs. Later in the night, I figured out the problem in my plot, and I woke up this morning and fixed the story, deleting everything I had done yesterday and writing another 2,000 words.
My running plan, meanwhile, was to do 4.9 miles, but, honestly, I just did not feel like running. I wanted to walk, and so that’s what I did. I listened to podcasts, I enjoyed the weather, and, later, I’m going to do a 30-minute low-impact cardio Rebecca Kennedy class to “Cher” songs!
It’s okay with me that I walked my distance today and didn’t run it because, just like yesterday when what I wrote didn’t work, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that my ass was in the chair and my feet were on the ground.
yogadonna 
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