Well, the weather finally turned. If you want to experience the apocalypse, try driving in Vancouver on a snow day. But running in the snow? That’s exhilarating—if you can find a safe route.

Normally, I wouldn’t run down Commercial Drive. But if there’s ever a day to tour the city, it’s a snow day, right?

When it comes to anything in life—whether you do it well or not, whether things go your way or they don’t—there’s always an excuse. I notice that a lot when I’m training. You want to run, but it’s snowing. You want to feel good, but you step in a puddle. You want to stay in Zone 2, but you push too hard, and suddenly your heart rate is in the 170s. It’s easy to point at something and say, because of that, this happened.

But in the end, what matters is whether you let those excuses stop you. You can acknowledge the obstacles, but you still have to decide if you’re going to show up and put in the work.

Excuses are loudest when you’re trying to improve—especially since progress isn’t linear. It ebbs and flows. You get better at one thing, and something else gets worse. When you’re balancing three sports, working on creative projects, or even training a dog, it’s easy to focus on the setbacks and ignore the wins.

Take my swimming. Since getting Form goggles, I’ve been working on my head rolls—trying to improve my head position while breathing. But in the process, my swimming got worse. The first time you accidentally suck in water because you didn’t lift your head high enough. That’s enough to derail an entire workout. But when I step back and look at the big picture, I see small improvements adding up.

Count the little wins. Count the pennies earned, even if they don’t add up to a dollar yet.

There’s always an excuse when things go wrong. But sometimes things go right—sometimes they feel too easy—and maybe that’s when you should make excuses, too.

Because if you’re going to blame outside factors when things go wrong, you should acknowledge them when things go right. Maybe the conditions were perfect. Maybe you got lucky. Maybe your critic was just having a good day. But you still had to show up and do the work.

I need to keep this in mind as I start building my training plan for the upcoming races. Right now, committing to six workouts a week feels overwhelming. But all I have to do is take it one day at a time. One task at a time. One workout at a time.

Things will go wrong on sunny days, but things can go right on snowy days too. One day at a time. And today, that means running through the snow from the south end of Commercial Drive to the north.

Enjoy! 

Join my YouTube community for insights on writing, the creative process, and the endurance needed to tackle big projects. Subscribe Now!

For more writing ideas and original stories, please sign up for my mailing list. You won’t receive emails from me often, but when you do, they’ll only include my proudest works.