a reminder

After a brutal week of low energy, poor eating habits, a definite lack of running (not helping the low energy), and overall crabbiness, I'm back.

After spending what felt like more hours asleep than awake (I am pretty sure I slept more than 9 hrs/night every night last week starting on Wednesday) it culminated in spending about 14 hrs in bed from Friday-Saturday morning.  It took that much bed-time to make me finally start to feel "normal" again. By the end of the day, my energy was returning.

The problem with taking time off from running is that first day back is intimidating. Even just a week and a half off can easily build into more. In your mind you start building it up. "Ugh that first few minutes will be hard." "Just have to do half an hour, that can wait a little loner, right?" So successfully getting back out there was of utmost importance. So all past failures aside, I forced myself out the door. It was really hard. That first 1/2 mile felt awkward and wrong like something was wrong with my gait. I kept repeating to myself: just a half hour. That's all.... just a single half hour. And to some extent I started punishing myself for taking that time off. When it started feeling better, I picked up the pace. Giving myself the "that'll teach you" mental pep talk. I  pushed myself so hard I did 5K in under 30 minutes. Maybe a little too hard for the heat, but it was an awesome way to start my day. A reminder that each day is a new day. What you did or didn't do the day before doesn't matter, just get out there.