You train for 3+ months. You live and breathe and eat and sleep on a tight schedule. You are laser focused on your goal. You are the most boring person on the planet. You run your half marathon. You achieve your goal. Then what?
I never thought about the after. No one told me I needed to. But I'm going through a period of adjustment I had not expected.
I didn't know how my body was going to react to running that far, nor how long it would take it to recover. I was stupid enough to run an 8K cross country race the weekend after and that was extremely stupid, don't do that folks. Cross country races are sprained ankles waiting to happen. It made my already sore left leg even worse, couldn't walk a normal gait until early this week, no joke.
My motivation has taken a nose dive. It's finally spring and the temps have been much nicer to run in, but I have trouble getting out the door. Then we had a few cold mornings and I didn't want to run because it was cold. What?!?!?!?!? I was running in single digit temps! In the snow!! What happened to my fortitude?! My badassness?! My mojo?!?!
I haven't ran over 5 miles since the half. My left leg still hurts when I run. I need to rest. I need to have a normal gait pattern again. It's early Saturday morning as I sit here writing this and it's the first Saturday morning since probably November that I haven't been out running. It feels weird. It feels wrong. It feels good.
But I'm justifying this break with the fact that I closed on my new condo yesterday!!!! Things need to be done!! I'm now up to my ass in crushing debt like most other Americans and I've got to get settled in!! Seriously, it's super exciting and bittersweet. I've loved where I've been renting the past 4 years, but glad to be an owner again and be in a place where I don't have to leave unless I want to. Transitions are hard, I'm such a creature of habit. New habits will have to be formed. I will keep you updated.
