NYC reached 60 degrees yesterday! This is the time of year that New Yorkers start to realize that winter will, in fact, come to an end! The sky gets a little bluer and we remember that there is a whole world outside our overpriced apartments! For me, that means it’s time to start running again and I’m not alone. I’m one of a number NYCGS staff members who have run the NYC marathon including, Director Jen Elliot and Founder Dan Emery.
Emillio Tostado, Director of the Queens Guitar School
Running when done right is super healthy, so I always try to tell myself, “You are doing your mind and body a favor.” ? Schedule it in, make it part of your routine, and start by running the same route for the first few weeks.? On your very first run out, make some mental notes: how far did you go in how much time? Did you feel any pain that wasn’t fatigue? At what point did you first feel like just stopping? ? Set expectations low. Remind yourself that any exercise is good exercise to start.? You should be excited about any incremental progress as the weeks go by.
Dan Emery, Founder of NYC Guitar School
“I always go to sleep with my workout clothes on under my pajamas so you can’t take a shower until you work out.”
“Leave your shoes next to the bed. Make it so you can literally fall into your routine!”
Amy Mowleski, Interim Mid-Town Director
“If you fall, get back up. Don’t be ashamed just get back to it! Something is always better than nothing!”
Eric, NYCGS Student
“The first seven days are the hardest. Stick with it!”
Shane Chapman, Director of Online Services (that’s me)
When I get up in the morning, I usually do not want to run so I have a little conversation with myself in my head. I say, “Well, you don’t want to do this so let’s just get our running clothes on and if you still don’t want to run, you don’t have to.” Then I say, “Ok, your running clothes are on, let’s just do some stretches, then if you still don’t want to run, you don’t have to.” Finally, I convince myself to put on my shoes and at this point, let’s face it, it would be pretty silly… so I run.
Practicing guitar is far less fatiguing than running, in fact, you don’t even have to leave your couch to do it! So the next time your feeling like you don’t to practice, get your guitar out of the case. That part is easy. If you still don’t feel like practicing, tune your guitar, then get your chord charts out and just see what happens.
*It’s been over a week since I started writing this article and I haven’t ran since that first day but I’m going to take Amy’s advice and as soon as I can, I’ll be back out there (preferably when it’s over 25 degrees again).
Let’s do it people! Together, we can defeat apathy!
