Please Stop!

That is what my body kept telling me today as I was out on my run. I wasn't sure what to expect today since dealing with the hard run on Saturday and then giving myself some time to recuperate. I didn't know if it would be real easy because of all the rest or if it would be tough because I hadn't gone for a while. I started out walking to warm up and then when I started to jog, I just felt like I wanted to stop. That is normal for me occasionally, but today, it was for the entire run. My lungs were struggling and my hip flexors were pretty unhappy. I walked a bit and then would start up again and just could not find my groove. I was getting very frustrated with myself. I just wanted to quit and really didn't care if I ever ran again. I just kept wondering why I was doing this to myself when it feels like this. It's hard to remember what a good run feels like when you are in the middle of a bad one. I didn't feel like I had much endurance at all. Jen suggested earlier I do some pace work (intervals), but there was no way I could have sped up today. I was just happy when I was able to jog along at a slow pace. I was trying to figure out why I was feeling this way. Did I not allow enough recovery time? Did I allow too much? What was it? It finally hit me! I didn't eat very well yesterday. Dave and two of the boys were gone fishing for a couple of days, and so it was just me and two others, but they were off and gone most of the time. When I am basically alone, I just don't take the time to eat well. If there is not a sit down dinner or lunch, I usually just skip it. When I tried to figure out what I had eaten yesterday, the only thing I could think of was a bowl of oatmeal w/milk, and a bunch of nuts! Oh yeah, and a See's chocolate. (I knew, I had to have some chocolate in there somewhere!) No wonder I was feeling so weak! Duh... I am sure that is why I struggled so much. My body didn't have the energy because I didn't give it any. I think I learned my lesson on that one and I will now be more careful to how I am fueling myself. A car can't run without fuel and a body certainly can't either! When I got home, I had a pretty good headache coming on and my left knee was in a lot of pain...as well as my hip flexors. Instead of feeling good about today's run, I totally felt defeated and discouraged. At least now I know why I was feeling that way and can prevent it from happening in the future. This poster is one of those "un-motivational" ones, but today it really struck me as humorous! Sorry if it is offensive to anyone. ☻ Total distance: 5.76 miles