Stressful Running

Sometimes things don’t always go as planned. I have been training for the Modesto Marathon that will be held March 18th. Last week, however, my training took a huge halt as my cat turned up missing. Emotionally distraught, I not only saw my weekly mileage suffer, but my pace slowed considerably. I had been so stressed out over the whole ordeal that I even found a few grey hairs sneaking in for attack on my scalp. Oh, the horror.

I did manage to run a slow twenty-miler on Saturday where, just like loosing my cat, I felt I had no control over the situation. I took a lot more walk breaks than I should have and just let my body go through the motions. Perhaps it was not the most productive of runs, but I got it done.

On Sunday, I met up with the Run365 training  folks at Los Gatos High School for the kick-off of spring training for the SF Marathon. Nothing like being in a group setting to lift my spirits. I saw some of my old friends and met some new ones. I also PR’d...running my slowest three miles ever. My body was still very upset. So, I took it extremely easy, ran with friends, and turned it into a social run...I regret nothing.

Tricia & Shannon

Fellow SF Marathon Ambassadors Roni & Albert

It’s no secret that I love running. And I will be honest when I say that I seem to have more bad runs than good. It’s those bad runs though that make me appreciate the good ones. With my worry state of mind I think: Because I had such a bad week, what if I never have another good run again? What if my pace just never returns to par? What if..What if..What if.

Then all of a sudden I will have a day like yesterday where I ran six miles and it felt effortless, easy, and I felt like myself again. No day is the same as before nor will it be the next. And just like loosing my precious cat and not giving up hope that I will find him again, I will also not stop running just because a few road blocks stood in my way.