Find Your Peace

I cannot even begin to tell you how nice it has been to not have to worry about fitting in my long runs this summer. It has been amazing, getting to "sleep in" nearly every day and sit around in my pj's sipping my coffee each morning. 

And yet...it has been awful.

It's what some might call a blessing in disguise. The disguise being a stress fracture that is taking its sweet little time healing. 

About three weeks ago, thinking that I had had plenty of time to recover, I took my feet on a beautiful ocean beach run. 

I loved every second of it. My leg, not so much. So, like any injured runner would do, I tried out another run on the beach the next morning, just to make sure I wasn't actually all healed up and just had a bad run... Nope. It still hurt. BOO.

That meant I was back to my living room HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) routines. Don't get me wrong, they kick my butt, but, they are NOT the same as running. There is no "getting lost in thought" while doing those workouts. And there's no "getting in a rhythm." Nope. The entire time you pretty much feel like you're going to die and you are out of breathe for about 20 minutes straight. Yes, these workouts make me miss running. A LOT.

And, even though I'm on summer break and having numerous adventures, I've definitely noticed myself being crabby lately for "no reason." I'm fairly certain that the reason is because I haven't been running. Running is my therapy. It's my time to work things out in my head, or to think about nothing and just have quiet peace. It's my recharge button after a long day of being Mom. 

So, this past weekend when I decided it was time to test the ol' leg out again, I was super duper excited. And then I watched the movie, "McFarland USA" about a group of underdogs who work their butts off and end up winning their state Cross Country finals, and that sparked my desire to run even more. And, I'm reading a book about a kid who puts on his running shoes nearly every morning and just runs around town, or runs until he forgets about all of his worries, and I'm completely jealous. My heart wants to run like that.

This time, for my "test" run, I had a trail run planned with my Sparkle.Pounce. sister, Sarah. We met up after church for four, glorious, pain-free miles. And, just like that, I felt content. 

I know running doesn't do this for everyone, but for me, it does. And, if it doesn't for you, I hope you find something else that makes everything seem right with the world.

Sparkle.Pounce.Find Your Peace.