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Saturday, May 21, 2011

My Own Personal Rapture

What a week.

Six reports, 24 running miles (so far), and one amazing show opened last night.

Following the show, there was a reception for the cast and crew at the adjacent bar where there was plenty of toasting and hand-shaking to go around. While it was a lovely time, it also meant that I got home around 12:30am, and I started thinking about the 20 miles I had scheduled for today. It was not a pleasant thought.

I checked the weather, which showed the temperature only getting higher for the next six hours. Re-checking my route, I wondered what kind of congestion I might encounter from the Congress Ave Mile that would be run. Essentially, I lost all excitement for the run in the course of a few minutes as my energy level dropped through the floor.

So I made a decision. Clearly, if I were to get up in 6 hours and go for a twenty-mile run, it would be a thoroughly unpleasant experience. Combine the extreme distance with staying up late and a terrible night's sleep the night before, and I was setting myself up for failure. I cannot fail at this distance, so I made the choice to switch the run to Sunday. While I want to stay as close to my official training schedule as I possibly can, I also have to acknowledge that this week presented a very unusual confluence of stressors, and the best thing I could do for myself would be to let myself rest and try it a day later.

Instead of getting up at 6 and putting on running clothes, I got up at nine and moved to the couch, where I spent some quality time with my wife and dog. It was heaven. The wife made some eggs and sausage for breakfast, and then we headed to CostCo, which is always a joyous place to spend a Saturday.

Running should not be an additional stress in my life. It should be the thing I use to break the stress. In order for this to work, I can't let myself get crazy over scheduling at the expense of my health and mental state. So today, I slept.

And tomorrow, I run.

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