Did you quit running or something?

No. Of course not!

I had, though, taken a 2 week hiatus from it. I will say, mother nature has not been kind to us this April. It's been very grey, cold, windy and snowy/drizzly. I found that hardcore attitude that kept me running all winter crumble a bit by the repeated snowfalls and all around yucky days that plagued us the past couple weeks.

So, I did what should be done: I rested. I admitted to myself that for the first time in a long time, I was not feeling the whole running thing. Took the signal from my body that it was just a bit tired and actually listened to it instead of pushing it onward. Listening to your body when it tells you something is not right for you at the moment is a hard skill to develop. It is, of course, not to be confused with feelings of laziness which can creep in and turn what started as listening to your body into full out abandonment of exercise in general. So as a rule, if the hiatus is longer than 1 week, you're drifting into abandonment territory.

I didn't completely abandon exercise. Instead, I got my yoga on. I was able to do it 3 times last week and 2x this week. Just 20 minutes of it and I can tell that my body was tight and my lack of stretching before and after running is NOT doing me any favors. Having such tight quads does help me realize how strong my legs are in fact getting. They may not be shrinking to give me those gracefull runner legs, but they are powerhouses for sure. I think that's just what they're meant to be: strong, big and powerful. I can deal with that. In fact, I'm rather proud of just how much muscle is already there.

Ok, I bunny trailed it off into a tangent, didn't I???? Sorry for the complete descent into basking in my own awesomeness.... ha ha. I broke the running hiatus today. WHOO HOO! The sun finally made its return to Minnesota along with a gorgeous 60 degree, light breeze quintessential spring day. I only worked 5 hrs, too, so I knew this run was meant to happen. It had to happen. I've been struggling to turn that itch into actual running so before I could talk myself out of it, I put on the running clothes and set out on my way, unsure of what direction or even how far I wanted to go. My plan: to run until I felt done. Today that turned out to be 4.7 miles.... ok... well about 4.2 miles. At about 4.2 my legs said "F-U for not running in 2 weeks and then trying to make us go 5 miles. We're done!" So I did walking jaunts over the last 1/2 mile.

It was so wonderful to get back out there! I've missed the conversations I have with myself. The feel of the breeze grazing across my slightly sweaty skin. The sun warming and bouncing off my skin. The mysterious phantom aches that try to make me stop and then pushing through them. Running along with any other endurance sport is a complete mental game as well as a physical one. I can't imagine how I would have dealt with the tumult of the past couple years without the lessons running teaches me. I am stronger both physically and mentally as a result. And truly grateful.