Everything I say here will probably end up on a t-shirt. (Project 190, Day Thirteen)

I have reached the stage of my workout program where the fact that I have reached this stage helps me continue on.

Let me explain:

There is a certain point where the fact that you've come this far means you can go farther, where going on seems to be the only way to reward having been.

Today, I really didn't feel like working out, for the first time since I started Project 190. It was gloomy outside and I was tired (still tired, from having stayed up nearly 'til midnight Friday after going to see The Dark Knight Rises with Sweetie) and I had to go in to the office to do some work and it was Sunday morning and all, but I thought to myself:  I've already done 12 straight days, I can't quit now.

And so I went jogging, and it was a lot of work today, but I kept jogging along the nature trail, and kept thinking to myself Day 13, Day 13, Day 13, Day 13.

And then I pictured myself doing that tomorrow, Day 14, Day 14, Day 14, and then next week Day 22, Day 22, Day 22 and next month Day 52, Day 52, Day 52...

... That would be really something, I thought, quite an achievement. Heck, I haven't worked out even 12 days in a row since I had that heart attack, but here I was on Day 13 and going strong, and I couldn't get to Day 52 or Day 72 or Day 190 without doing Day 13, so I did Day 13.

I read once an article that said that when you are exercising, you shouldn't look at your goal -- don't look at the top of the hill or the horizon, it said, because that will help intimidate you into not getting that far.  Don't reflect on how far you've come or how far you have to go, that article said, to keep your mind from getting tired of the effort and quitting on you.

I never follow that advice. I look exactly where I am headed.  I think constantly about how far I have to go and how I will do it.  I stare at the hill I'm about to climb and think about the hills I have already climbed.  I think about how many miles, days, stretch behind me and ahead of me and I use that to give me the strength to keep going.

You don't get anywhere with your eyes closed, and you can't take the 100,000th step without having taken every step that goes before it.