The big Hiatus

First off--Happy Marathon Monday!!! My friend Jess is running the Boston Marathon today and I want to give her a HUGE shout out. Jess--you're awesome and I can't wait to get my email updates along the way! GO JESS!!!


Ok, so if you enjoy reading this fabulous blog regularly, then you've noticed I've been slacking in the post department. So I figured I owed you somewhat of an explaination.

I wanted to give you all an awesome race recap from last week's Cherry Blossom 5 miler but I didn't bring my camera to the race. I was afraid something would happen to it, so I thought I'd rely on some friends or even the photo pros that would be snapping shots along the way. Well, my friend and co-worker Bri---who not only PR'd at this race, but chose THIS one to be her first race EVER (you ROCK girl!) is currently in the hosptial (she'll be OK but I don't want to disclose information about it without asking her permission) so I had to hope for pics from Marathon Foto to share with you. But when I got their email telling me that the cost to download one photo (yes ONE) would be $40, I said, "Oh HELLL no" and then I got lazy. So that's excuse number 1.

The other excuse is that I think I need to take a break.

My body has been trying to tell me for weeks that something is wrong and I haven't stopped long enough to listen. I have been busting my ass for 4 1/2 months training for this 10 mile race and the Team Challenge 1/2 Marathon (coming up in June!) and I think I'm ready for a physical and mental break.

For the past few weeks my morning workouts have been terrible. I've struggled through every run, haven't had the energy to make it through the day without some kind of caffiene intake, and have been very grumpy at night. I've been giving all of my energy to my job-so much so that when I get home, it's like I've turned into my complete opposite: I don't wan to talk, I don't want do blog, I don't want to read blogs, and I barely want to eat dinner. I just want to get my butt to sleep.

Saturday morning I ran with my running group and about 3 miles in, I knew I had to quit early. I was running with a guy who was chatting my ear off (usually that's me!) and after we got to the 4 mile water station I said, "I'm really sorry but I have to turn around. There is no way I'm making it to 10 today." I ran back to the 3 mile stop and asked the wonderful volunteers for a ride home. I ran 5 miles but felt like I ran 20. I was exausted (and cranky) for the rest of the day, although I did a pretty good job of hiding it, and was passed out by 9:30.

That's when I decided that if I don't take a break, I will get seriously sick or hurt.

I'm going to try to keep this week limited to walks and maybe a few yoga sessions, if anything at all. I need some R&R if I'm going to make it through this 1/2 marathon training. It seems as if I've hit some kind of wall and I need to just take a step back to breathe.

On a positive note, I joined a co-ed softball team and my first game was last Thursday night. I had a blast and I'm so glad I joined. Watching me swing a bat, I'm sure, is hillarious---a soccer player playing softball?? Ha! There WILL be more on that.

Also I bought a new pair of kicks. Can't wait to share that with you either.

What I plan to do this week is blog about how I'm feeling while taking this time off, and also focus on other topics that are important to me. We'll see how this goes. I think I'm going to need all the help I can get!