Will Run For Ice Cream

Yesterday, I went outside in the cold weather for my first outside run post-marathon. It went fairly uneventful. It felt great to be out there running again. I had decent splits. My knee felt ok. Overall it was a good run.  This is me today...  After my run yesterday, my calf felt pretty sore and tight. I stretched as best as I could. I walked on it all day with the family. Then last night, I rolled, and rolled, and rolled some more.  It was tender to walk on it in the middle of the night. Lil Man got into our bed again ( sigh ) at 2:30am. So I took some motrin (in case of inflammation). This morning I stretched. It felt ok when walking. So I did my 1 mile #RunningStreak. It felt fine during the run. I was getting breakfast when Lil Man spilled his entire cup of milk on the carpet. I turned to go down to the basement, as I was running down the steps, by about the 3rd step or so.. I felt it... a pull, a nice sharp pain, and my calf muscle immediately ...

It's been about a week since I decided that I needed a little break ( That Marathon Really Took A Toll On Me Emotionally ). And focusing on strength training (as crazy as it sounds) I think was exactly what I needed. Well, that and the running streak  When I wanted to cut my reps short during strength training, I reminded myself that I wasn't a quitter, that to get results I needed to push through my comfort zone and finish the set. And so far that's what I've done. (even on the triceps push-ups which I am terrible at!)  I'm starting week 2 of strength training. My plan is to do it faithfully for a month and hope that it becomes a habit. I'm also hoping that in some ways I will notice a little difference in muscle tone. I know that it probably won't be drastic , but I'm hoping for at least a little change to encourage me to continue on with strength training.  And doing the running streak has kept me running without feeling that I needed to ...

I'm in a funk. And I haven't been like this.. well... I don't think ever. When I moved from MS to PA, I got depressed and stopped running. But when I ran in MS, running was very different for me. I met my best friend most mornings out of the week, and we would run/talk. It was great. She was by far the better runner. I cherished our time together, and still do. To this day, I still miss our runs.  When I moved to PA, I lost that. And going from running with your best friend to running solo was a major change for me. So much in fact that I gave up running. I don't remember how long I stopped. I just know that I did ( for awhile ). And I honestly don't even remember how I started back running again. But I did.  And then I met some people at some races, and starting making some running friends. I ran several 5Ks and then moved up to 10Ks, joined a running group, ran my first half marathon (followed by several more) then ran my first Marathon at 40 , and just...