Happy New Year!
I rang in 2012 on the beach - who knew it would ever be possible to need flip flops in December? Since the race in October (which was fine - not horrible, but not really noteworthy), I have taken a considerable running break and within the past few weeks have slowly been reintroducing a run into my routine here and there.
As many of you know, the lure of running on the beach can be very strong and I gave in this week. I arrived at the beach at night, so the first thing I wanted to do in the morning was run! I slept late, ate breakfast and put on my running shoes. Since I had only run 2 - 3 miles at a time the past few weeks, I didn't want to do too much, so I set out for a run somewhere between 20 - 60 minutes. Once I got going it felt great! A flat and beautiful course invigorated me. As I blew past two miles, I realized I should probably turn around if I wanted to actually make it back home. To make a long story short, I ran for an hour and felt okay about it. I rested for a bit, drank some water and wanted to continue the vacation fun!
I cleaned up and got ready to hit the town. I had a snack got in the car and started feeling sick...Really sick...So sick I had to turn the car around and go home. It hit me like I had just run 13 miles and I hurled! It was horrible, but only for a few minutes. Once I got settled, I reminded myself - resist the lure of the beach, running on the beach can still be too much running for your body!
I recovered just fine and enjoyed the rest of the (fun!) day, but when I laced them up to run this morning, I gave myself a very strict rule - no more than 3 miles! It was a short, two-miler, followed by squats and I felt wonderful. I still got to see some beautiful scenery, enjoy the 70-degree weather and break a sweat.
Thank goodness one bad run didn't mess up the whole vacation. I learned my lesson and figured out how to reel in my excitement in order to savor the whole trip. Sadly now, it's time to head home. Hopefully this weekend has given me a break from the ordinary and enough motivation to run back at home...
