Today, I wanted to get about 3 miles in so I ran to Central Park and back. I’ve been having a little health issue all week and my energy level is low. It feels like I’m dragging, like I’m tired, like I’m stuck in a rut.

Somewhere close to the 2 mile mark, I stopped on the sidewalk to take a little breather and a man who was walking towards me decided to nominate himself my coach. He said, “Don’t stop. Keep going!” and I guess I didn’t start running again soon enough for him so as we were about to pass each other, he put his hand on my back and pushed me and said, “Run, girl!” I was shocked so I started running at which point he shouted to my back, “That’s right. Keep going.” Maybe I should have told him thank you because it gave me the momentum to finish my almost-3-mile run but it was one of the most shocking things that has happened to me running on the streets. That’s Harlem for you. People get involved here. Really involved!

Today, I am just going to take things a little easy. Aside from the physical push the man gave me on the street, there are some people trying to push me to do things for them, calling me at 6:30 a.m. or 11 pm.  I give a lot of my time and energy to projects that I believe in but there has to be balance – I can’t be available all the time and it’s unrealistic to expect that anyhow. So today, I am taking some time to recover. I’ll turn my phone off if I have to.

I stopped at Duane Reade and got some recovery drinks and I’m going to focus on building my energy levels back up.

Eat Right, Live Right, #RunWright. They all go together. Good food and good environment produces good results. Today I’m focusing on the balance.

How is your day going?