Last night I set my alarm for 5:05am and told myself, as usual, that I didn't really have to get up then if I felt too tired. But I've kind of been getting excited about my morning runs and so I find myself waking up periodically in the middle of the night, anxious to get out the door and on the pavement. When my alarm went off this morning, I actually thought to myself, "YES! Time to RUN!" I don't think I've ever done that before - I kind of surprised myself. Usually I sit in bed for a while and convince myself that the bragging rights coming with getting up at 5am and running are worth it.
This has been the most miles I've logged in a week for a long time - about 31, if I don't run tomorrow. It doesn't seem like a really impressive number to me until I realize that I've done it in only 3 days of running. With a 14 mile run on Sunday, a double run on Wednesday resulting in a 12 mile day and a 5 mile run this morning, I've done more than I thought I could.
Tomorrow I'm moving into a new house, across the city. I'm a little nervous about my running habits, since it's a different neighborhood (read: not as nice) and so I've determined that I should get on the metro and ride out a few stops to start my run. Which will require even more dedication on my part. I don't know how well I'll do on the metro at 5am (does it even open that early?). I'll have to see how I can work this out. My morning runs might have to end temporarily until I can work this out. Oh well - I guess this will just be another challenge.
Anyway, this morning I was running and I realized that my quads were really sore. If you read my last post, you probably noticed that my body yells at me a lot (shrieking calves, etc). Well, my quads were kind of just chit-chatting with each other this morning, not really yelling, not really in pain, just incredibly sore. With every pound on the pavement, I felt them asking each other, "why is she doing this to us?" I could feel the muscles wrapped around my legs and it really made me realize how connected our bodies are. I should probably learn more about muscles and how our bodies respond to the physical challenges we present to them. I should also probably start stretching before I run...
Yep, faithful reader, I don't stretch before I run. I'm trying to remember the last time I voluntarily stretched when I did an individual run and I um...cannot remember for the life of me. I've done Pilates and classes like that, so I kind of assumed that as long as I was stretching at some point, I was doing okay. The other day, though, I browsed Runner's World online and was dismayed to read that runners should do yoga.
I hate yoga. I am not flexible at all (probably because I don't stretch and my muscles are incredibly tight) and I cannot stand to be in the same position for more than 2 minutes. Downward dog is my enemy and I struggle to find serenity because all I can think is - I want to move, move move move MOVE! I like cycling classes...I like aerobic classes...I like pulsing music and instructors who shout at you to push it harder and I like to sweat and be out of breathe. Yoga destroys me because it is more challenging than any other class for me - I can't do the poses and when I do finally manage to contort my body into something somewhat similar to what everyone is doing, I can't stand to remain in that position for the required amount of time. The music and the instructor saying things that are supposedly going to relax my mind and body make me snort and giggle almost uncontrollably, so that I look horribly disrepectful. It looks like I don't care. And I try really hard to care, but with names like downward dog and tree...well...it kind of just makes me roll my eyes.
But...if I Runner's World says I should do yoga...if the ENTIRE WORLD has caught on to yoga...if my muscles are so tight that they are chit-chatting as I run and shrieking as I sprint, heck, I'm going to find a yoga class. Although I might wait until YogaWeek comes back to DC...I mean, after all, what's the point of doing something I hate and paying more than $5 to do it?
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