More Tentative Hurrahs

This week, Shelby and I have run between 14 and 15 miles: 2.5 miles Tuesday, 3 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Saturday, and 4 miles Sunday. I didn't intend to run that much, but everything has felt good so far--and she was soooo much calmer every day after our runs. Without the activity, she has put on a little weight and taken to chasing my cat and Meeso, some times going on random sprints around the house late at night. She gets bored at the dog park after 20 minutes or so, so that wasn't helping as much as I had hoped.

Not running had the opposite effect on me: My mood slumped considerably, and I felt tired much of the time. This year's running span has been my longest consecutive stretch of running (or doing any kind of exercise) without a break in my life at nine months (so far), and the positive addiction wasn't evident until the toe forced me to take those three weeks off. Getting my bike out again was great, but it didn't provide the same intensity and has the added issue of being dangerous in a city that is not bike friendly. I couldn't stand going to the gym, trying to find machines to use that would give me the same exhausted, exhilarated, fulfilled feeling that running gave me. Swimming, biking, elliptical machines--none of them did it. I like running too much--purposeless, random running just to get out and move without mechanical devices aiding the way. Weird. I never thought I would admit to such a thing, but there it is. It makes me feel good, it has reshaped my body a bit (more on that later), and it gives me a chance to bond with Shelby and what bit of nature I can experience in a city environment. I like running.

If I can keep taking it slow and keeping the mileage within reason, I'm hoping we'll be in good shape for whatever short runs I sign up this fall (our zoo's 4-mile run is one of my favs, and I signed up to be one leg in a marathon relay team months ago). I'm still considering doing the MS150 this year, too, now that I've gotten back onto my bike. We'll see.