Since I have been back from Hawaii I have been trying to simplify my life. I have been moving my life’s parts all around like a rubik’s cube trying to take pressure off myself so that I can be far more calm and serene. I need more time to spend with myself to better myself. Mentally and spiritually, not physically.
One of these things I had been debating for the past week or so was to stop running for a few months and go to only cycling and yoga. The theory behind this was that when I was in Hawaii for the first 2 says I was having tiny anxiety attacks because I didn’t have anything to do. I felt useless and a bit lame. I was still doing cool things and having fun but there was an overall feeling of anxiety over not needing to do things all the time. I made a decision to not run at all for the last 3 days and just sit in the sun and read. It was the perfect choice at the time. It really was. I needed it so bad and that whole process was super illuminating.
As I said, for the past week or so I was thinking of totally removing running from my life so in a few months I could re-approach it with a whole new set of tools and a whole new mindset.
Today I changed my mind and I am so grateful that I did
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Running for me has forever been one of my biggest struggles. Rarely have I been excited to run. I love talking about it and being a part of it, I like the culture but when it comes down to it, It has always been my brain telling myself a billion reasons why I don’t need to and why i can put it off until tomorrow. Tomorrow rolls around and the excuses come back and weeks go by.
The trail running has helped with that but still, I have rarely spent the entire day excited about that nights run. That’s a huge difference between the running and cycling. I always want to ride my bike. I really only love running once my legs start going
Today on my run I was very surprised though at how fantastic it felt. From the go. I was far more fluid, my rhythm was impeccable, by breathing was deeper and calmer than it has been in a very long time, and I wasn’t stiff at all. These are always what I deal with for the first few runs after taking a week off. None of those symptoms hit this time though. Why?
I am putting all that on the yoga. My cycling too to keep the strength but for sure the rest was the yoga. This is turning out to be the miracle key I have been looking for. It’s only been a few weeks in the yoga practice and it is making me run faster, calmer, and better than I remember running in forever. This in turn takes my mind off the struggle of running and I get to focus on the joy and beauty of running.
Please forgive that last line from the parking lot to my house on the map. Today was my first day with the Garmin watch and I’m still ironing out the kinks.
