Guilty Pleasures

I'm gonna be honest with you. I was going to write about some running venture today. About my "fartlek" run on the treadmill this morning at the Doubletree Hotel in Houston. 5 miles in 40 minutes. Oh, I was flying. I was going to explain the purpose of "fartleks". Technical crap. Uh, oh - Beavis moment....heh, heh....Crap, Fartlek...heh, heh. Never mind - go Google "fartlek" and you'll know why I did it, and how it is supposed to help my training.

Instead, I am going to write about guilty pleasures. I just experienced one of mine. We all have them. You'd by lying if you said you didn't have at least one. Some are shared publicly. Then there are those that are kept in the darkest recesses of our minds. I have a few guilty pleasures. One of them is my undying love for chocolate. M&M's, Oreos, fudge, cookies, oh...hold on, I need to head to the vending machine as I feel a craving coming on (I'm in Dallas now). But I have another lessor known guilty pleasure. The kind that leaves a goofy (running reference...) smile on my face each time it happens. One that keeps me focused and mesmerized for an hour at a time, once, and even sometimes, twice a week. Get your mind out of the gutter - I told you, I am out of town.

I am the biggest fan of Dancing With The Stars! I'm not star-struck. Instead, one of my motto's is that "nothing beats a good dance number". I love watching great dancing. The glitz, the music, the awkwardness. What these B-list stars endure to become a dancing champion can be likened to training for a marathon. Hours of practice. Trying to look good in short-shorts. Moving to the music (ok, that's just me singing along to my MP3 player). You get the picture. If you want to be the best, if you want to succeed, you need to be willing to sacrifice something to achieve your goals and dreams. The stars set aside their current projects to train countless hours a week only to be humbled by judges and our votes (note - I have never voted. I'm just a closet fan). I am sacrificing sleep, time with family, and time in front of the TV to train. Getting into Houston at 12:30 am this morning wasn't easy, nor was getting up at 6:20 am to run. But I want to achieve the goal I have set for myself. Besides, I need to run early, so I can be on the couch at 8:00 pm each Monday and Tuesday when possible to watch the likes of Wayne Newton and Marie Osmond attempt to recapture their youth. Ahem...scratch that. This 39.3 and counting thing may come back to bite me. Recapturing youth? Heh, heh. Or relishing one additional guilty pleasure...the thought of running with Belle, Cinderella and Snow White in Orlando in January??? Maybe that guilty pleasure is better off being kept to myself...heh, heh...