Back Running as of Yesterday

So much has happened since I ‘blogged’ my running experience. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years – I managed to keep running with my two ‘bad’ toenails, but my heart just wasn’t in it. For 5 years I’ve run and watched my weight, and I was struggling to continue. Then in late January, we decided to get out of our apartment and, in an act of pure faith, purchase a home in Northern Virginia even though the house in Georgia had not yet sold. God is good – He provided a way and a great home to purchase and great financing from a solid company. Then He brought a buyer for our home in Georgia – and even though the home STILL hasn’t closed, the buyer is living in it and paying me for the use of the house. Hopefully it will close late this month (June) or early July.

With all that going on, I just lost interest in running. Sure, I knew that I needed to keep exercising, but decided that a shiny new hybrid bike was the ticket. Yes, I ride it often, but it simply isn’t the workout that is running. Stopped watching what I eat – watched my weight shoot up to higher than it has been in 4 years – but still well shy of my peak back before my radical weight loss.

I think it was just pure fatigue – mental and physical – so much has happened in the past 18 months –new job, commuted Atlanta – DC for 6 months – moved my family into a hotel, then apartment, then new home – new schools for the kids (who adapted and did great and made me more proud of them than ever before) – new job for Karen – just on and on.

But yesterday – I laced up my shoes. 6:30 AM – 65 degrees on a beautiful Vienna, VA day. And off I went – and it all came back. Sure, I was slow – I could feel the extra 17 pounds that weren’t there the last time I ran. I only ran 2 miles and, even though I could have gone further, I knew that was enough. But wow, did it feel good. It was enjoyable – no goals, no training, no stress over the next race – just running because I finally wanted to again. It felt great to work up a “runner’s sweat.”

Today – same thing. 6:45 today – out the door heading in another direction – running in areas that I trained in before, but seeing them in a different way. Today I went 3 miles – and it was not a chore – I did ‘feel it’, but my body didn’t protest. Ran my heart rate up waaay too fast, but even that felt good because I know my sleeping cardiovascular system is waking up again.

So there you go – after a long absence, the running is coming back into my life. Thank you Lord, for being patient with me!