Monday, August 29, 2011

Calling in sick to life

Sometimes, it just has to happen. You burn the candle at both ends long enough, and your body just says, hold on there, chief ... not one more step until you get yourself a little rest.

That's what happened this weekend. And I am so glad it did!

Saturday morning dawned real friggin' early. Friday night, sleep was elusive. Come to think of it, the night before every race is a tough one for sleeping. Not sure why; I know I have 5Ks in the bag now. (By that I do not mean to imply that they are easy; they are not. They are hard. They piss me off. But I know I can finish them.) But still, toss/turn/repeat was pretty much my mantra of the night.

But up and out the door I was on Saturday morning, ready to hit Hoffman Estates and run the Root Awakening. And run it I did, at my best pace yet; I finished 13.1 miles in 44:30ish. To most runners, that's nothing; that's walking. To me, it's everything. It's the first race I have ever finished in less than 45 minutes. I'm damn proud.

Saturday afternoon I was supposed to go to Wisconsin, but that didn't pan out. Misunderstandings and such meant I got an afternoon to relax, which felt like such a good idea. Then, Sunday morning rolled around, and I tried to roll with it ... but my sciatic nerve had other plans. Tingly pain, down my right leg ... so uncomfortable.

So I cancelled my plans and spent the day stretching, applying heat and relaxing. I simply stopped, for an entire day. And as of this morning, I feel 99 percent better. Is it possible that I really just needed a break? Is it possible to be healed in a day? Well, if how I felt at 5:30 a.m. this morning, when the alarm went off and I got up and went for a run is any indication, yes, it is.

For the last few weeks I've been wishing I could take a day off, call the office and just not show up. It never occurred to me that I could take back my weekend and just veg. As much as I missed seeing Amber, and going out on David's boat, I was exactly where I was meant to be.

Sometimes, being still is pure bliss.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

1) CONGRATS on beating your own bet time!!! (but umm, do you realize that you said you ran THIRTEEN point one miles? Not saying you can't, but if you do that in under 45 minutes, well....shit. That would be more than human, wouldn't it?
2) We are in sync once again-- I spent Sunday doing nothing but resting too. It was good!