Rest

I feel like most of my posts have been confessions recently and this one is no different. I've been taking a bit of a step back from running lately and it's making me a little bit crazy. My foot started feeling stressed during vacation (half marathon + vacation walking in unsupportive flip flops = no bueno) and I knew I wanted to back off before I did any real damage. I've still fit in a few easy runs but I'm not back to my regular schedule yet and I haven't done a real "long run" since said half-marathon. I feel back to normal and plan to return to my training plan soon but at the first twinge of pain I will back right off again. As I've reiterated here (and repeated to myself in a non-stop loop!) Columbus Marathon is my real goal and it's still a long way away, I need to stay healthy to be able to run those 26.2 miles and not think about the short term. For Emerald City I truly don't have a goal (no secret sub-2 plans here) and I will likely view it as a training run, NOT a race, because I don't think I need to put myself through that stress when I'm already fighting an injury. I'm already preparing myself for my slowest official half-marathon ever, because I know it will still be a hit to the ego.

A huge consequence of not running for me is not feeling entirely together. Daily tasks seem a bit more difficult, I find myself pretty unmotivated all-around and I fall into a little funk. I'm not sure if this is the lack of endorphins (I love me a good runner's high!) or just the building up of my stress. Running has been a fantastic outlet for me- I feel like it stabilizes me emotionally and helps me work through things in my head- but the downside of that is that without running, I start to feel lost. I always joke that running is the best form of therapy for me but that never felt more true than it does now. I'm trying to find other ways to relieve the stress but mostly I've been self-medicating with pints of frozen yogurt (Ben & Jerry's Blueberry Vanilla Graham Greek yogurt is my recent favorite) and Netflix marathons, which is pretty much the opposite of exercise. 

So that's where I'm at, it's been hard to blog regularly because I don't feel like I'm accomplishing many blog-worthy things and writing about running just hurts my heart a bit (melodramatic, I know). I also didn't think you all would really care about the countless number of Law & Order: SVU episodes I have watched lately, which could rival my highest weekly mileage. But, the good news is that I will be back to my old self in no time, in fact- by tomorrow! 

I've got some really exciting things coming up- including a special offer for a super rad race- so don't give up on me yet :-)