PRR Training Week 5: The Week That I Only Did My Long Run

I came down with a gross sinus infection early last week and spent most of my time blowing my nose with 1 ply.

Unfortunately, running took a backseat to getting healthy. I debated doing some yoga but decided downward dog wouldn’t be the best thing for my aching head.

I felt a little guilty for not getting off of the couch, but I thought I was okay with the whole not running thing. Then later in the week I ended up stomping my feet at life while sobbing “I don’t know why I’m getting so upset, I haven’t been running, wahhh.” Embarr.

This week taught me that I truly NEED the endorphins my body gets from moving in order to function. I’m not saying I need to run every day or that I should run when I’m sick, but that I’m personally much less of a basket case when I exercise. Maaaybe I should have taken a walk or done some sitting-down yoga to go along with my Vitamin C binge.

Going from working out several times a week and then NOT AT ALL really affected my mood for the worse and made me realize that running is a stress reliever and my way to decompress from the day. It lets my brain wander and relax into an almost meditative state that helps me stay sane.

Not running for even a few days showed me how important it is to me and that I want to keep my body healthy so that I can run for the rest of my life.

Thank gawd I felt almost 100% better on Saturday and could spend the whole afternoon on the trails!

For some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to run all of the miles in under 12 minutes, which is hard for me to do on a long run (I am slow).

Damn that last mile. It felt good to push myself though, and I was very proud of myself for putting in the effort on my one run for the week.

Miles 4 and 5 were very exciting because I ran them on a part of the trail that the PRR Half Marathon will be on. I can’t wait to get more practice trail runs in because the actual trail (and not asphalt) was throwing me off a little bit…