Giving up and Loving it… Because I Can!

I had plans for a very active weekend, extending into Monday, but on Monday things didn’t go quite like I had planned.

I had planned to do a 10k. 
But then I decided I’ll only do a 5k.
And in the end I only did a 1 mile walk/run.

Let me explain…

I rarely go to a gym, but I want to do some cross-training, so on Saturday I did a fitness class at Corp Fitness. I’ve had too much pain and have no need to have more, so I modified one or two of the exercises because I didn’t want to injury my leg. By doing that I could do the whole hour class and to my surprise I liked it, because it was so different from running. Though it was hard, I liked the change of pace  and I wasn’t dying during it.

For the rest of the day, I was tired, but not sore. But that all changed on Sunday morning. I woke up with my upper legs and hips screaming. I was so freakin’ sore! Apparently the exercises were very different from running and I used muscles that had been chillaxin’ for years.

I was signed up to do the Run For Taylor 5k on Sunday morning and since I was going with a few friends, I went. I figured the run would help shake out the soreness. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I took Ibuprofen before the race, which I never do, but between my soreness and the major hills on that course, I ended up walking as much as running and I got sorer as the race went on.

The rest of Sunday I was popping meds… and Jerry was laughing every time he saw me sit down or get up slooooowly. After years of listening to my body, I didn’t think I had injured anything, but I sure had overused some muscles and they were not going to let me forget it.

And my workouts weren’t done yet, I had signed up for a 10k on a golf course on Monday evening at 5pm (done then due to golf course availability) because I knew it would be a beautiful place to run. And also because it was put on by OneRun Together, which raises money for cancer patients and their families.

On Monday morning, I felt better, but was still sore and remembering my recent post about how sometimes we need to be willing to give up on our original plans and readjust our goals, I decided to drop down to the 5k. When I arrived, I warmed up with a walk and some stretches, surprised at how sore I still was and wondering how the heck I was going to do 3.1 miles.

The first quarter mile was on an asphalt golf cart path. As I ran that, every sore muscle complained LOUDLY and I was asking myself why I was even attempting to run. Leaving the path, the course was on a grassy slope… which is bad for my left leg/foot on a good day and now having sore upper legs and hips, I had to be extra careful that I didn’t overturn my ankle.

After walking carefully on the grass for a little… I was done!

.

.

At the next turn they were directing the 1-mile folks to the left and the 5k and 10k runners to the right and I proudly walked to the left. For the first time in my life, I quit a race early and I couldn’t have been happier!

Sometimes my body can’t… but I can use my brain to say I can quit. 

Our bodies use pain to talk to us and mine was talking LOUDLY… it needed a break.  As I mentioned in a recent interview on BlissTree…

I don’t believe in the old-school mentality of no pain, no gain. Pain is our body’s way of talking to us, so we have to be wise and evaluate where and why we have pain and then make a wise decision on whether the pain needs rest, stretching, gentle running, a different exercise, etc.

Today I had a noon speaking gig and after standing for an hour my legs were complaining again. So now I’m on my recliner and I will baby my aching body the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow and the next day and the next… maybe until Christmas.

So running friends, if you don’t hear from me in the next week/month/year, you might want to check in with me and see if I ever plan to run again.

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Have you ever dropped out of a race or something else you planned to do, because your body was talking to you? Where you glad or sad you did?