Saturday, September 14, 2013

Running is the Answer.

In February 2012, I went out for a run on a local trail with my dogs. 

A few days later, I went again. 

And so it continued for a little over a month before I got my cousin to come along for the journey. At first, I did it just for the dogs, to get them to come home tired and ready to behave. But then, I was addicted. Next thing, I knew, we had committed to run a half marathon... and we did. 

Running was great for me and for the dogs. We had a daily structure, we had the recommended amount of physical activity and we were all a bit more obedient because of it. I had more energy, I slept perfectly all night and I was absolutely more confident. 

I stopped drinking soda because I couldn't possibly get enough water if I had a soda. And I always ran better with a healthy lunch and lots of water. Which, as you know, is an improvement over soda and McDonalds... not that I ate that kind of stuff daily, but wanting to run better and knowing that healthy food would help, I started eating healthier. 

Out on the trail one day, we met another runner (a real one) who also had a GSP, so we started running together. She encouraged and pushed me to be better... and I was. 

Three months ago, I started to train for the half-marathon taking place tomorrow. I was running on the road for a change to try and acclimate to the hard surface since that is what did me in during the first half marathon. My runner friend challenged me to run 100 miles in one month. And I did.

But by the end of that month I could barely walk down the stairs in the morning. Shin splints, or a stress fracture, I'm still not sure what. I decided that I needed to take a month off to rest and heal. 

It's been about 6 weeks now and not running is literally killing me. I can feel myself losing muscle, I don't need as much water, I'm eating junk, I can't fall asleep until practically midnight and yet I'm exhausted all day long. I'm grumpy and bored and my legs feel restless all the time. It's time to go back, even if I'm not 100% healed. 

I didn't realize how much running had really improved my life, and I miss it. So whatever the problems you face, just know that running is the answer. It may not seem that way at first, but eventually, you'll see.

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