What a Difference a little Sunshine Makes!

The time change. 

I struggle when they take that hour in the Spring.  I need to see the sunshine to lift my mood especially when I am not running many miles.  Due to the weather and flooding over the weekend I was able to REST.  Not really willingly but I did take off two WHOLE days from running.  I know that my body needs to rest after a race but I didn't at all race the Greenway Trail 50k that I completed.  I simply enjoyed it, experinced it, had fun with it.  So, my toes aside, I didn't really feel like I need to rest.  Of course all that would be excuses reasons why I am trying to justify not taking more time off when I know that to build a body, rest is one of those building blocks. 

But today I decided that if the sun was finally back at it's job of shining, I was going to get back to running, slowly.  That is what littlest and I did this morning.  A slow short wake up jog.

We enjoyed the sun coming over the ridgeline as we finished. 

Oh, I enjoyed it...

...because littlest was fast asleep by then.

I must have bored him to sleep because I was playing tour guide as we ran. 

I pointed out all the wild life and changes in the scenery from the receded flood waters while we cruised along. 

I guess I can check tour guide off potential fall back jobs! 

Evening Run and Day Three

I just got done complaining about the time change and now I am pleasantly reminded of why I really don't mind the darker evening after all. I had another surreal run tonight. Only 3.5 miles but every single foot fall was perfect. There is just something great about not being able to see where it is your headed that allows you to run just a little bit faster. It's almost as if you can run without the concern of how far you have yet to go.

Tonight I didn't have the wonderful moon. Boo bad clouds, boo on you! I had my handy-dandy head lamp. It has several settings. Tonight I had it set really low to just give me a tiny bit of illumination aimed at the road just a few feet in front of me. AWESOME! Just enough light to be able to run safely. I love the feeling of being the only person outside. When I run by the few homes I pass on this out-and-back, I enjoy seeing people going about the evening within their lit windows. Tonight it reminded me of the holiday season I have to look forward to with the Christmas lights decorating the houses that allow me to go on my favorite 6.5 mile loop with or without the benefit of moon light. There are always things about each season that keep the joy in my running year round.

After my p.m. run my wonderful oldest son kept the two littles somewhat occupied so I could reap the benefits of Day Three of P90x. The joys of Shoulders, Bis & Tris and another round of 339 sit up variations. At first I thought, 'Gee, I need heavier weights.' but after about 20 minutes I was happy that I hadn't tried to be a macho-chic. Talk about burn! And my legs were great, totally into the run but as the shoulder/bi/tri workout started to use my quads in some squats while doing curls and presses, those same legs started whispering about being really really tired! Tonight it was one of those tired in a good way kind of feelings. I hope that is still how I feel in the morning. I have my favorite 6.5 loop on tap in the a.m. and then an hour and a half of yoga courtesy P90x in my p.m. Wish me luck.

A Sampling of Days to Come

The amazing view from my run

in the moonlight

Now that the wonderful time change has set in, I have the opportunity to run by moon light. Which is AWESOME!!! I ran an a.m. 3.5 mile and a p.m. 3.5 mile run on Monday since I wouldn't be able to get a long run in with my work schedule. Only to realize that we had a full moon! Even though it really got chilly once the sun went down I didn't let that stop me from getting my second run completed.

Don't get me wrong. I love to run in every season but there is just something about being wrapped up in your self-created envelope of warmth, feeling like you are the only one alive, seeing the world so quiet and still. IT IS THE BEST! The only way to make it better is to add a light snow fall - which I know will happen this winter.

I ran Monday's p.m. run knowing that with my oldest soon to be off to Basic Training (he has been doing his running & PT. Yeah!), I will have few opportunities to indulge in my love of solo running in the dark-ish. When my hubbs is home from work he tries to support my running need but doesn't always agree with how much or how often I run. He believes less is more. This probably stems from his understanding of fitness via weight training only, i.e. if he can push up a bar with twice his body weight on it then he feels he is fit. (okay, maybe a slight over statement but hubbs is not in love with running. He is more of an acquaintance of running.) I don't hold it against him. Not everyone can understand the drive to run long distances or lots and lots of miles...just for fun.

I digress.

So my weeks will feature more shorter runs done in a.m./p.m. doubles to attempt to keep me happy and my miles up for spring marathon racing season (looking at March & April).

Then there is P90x. I started it on Sunday. Just for those who might be interested in a report of progress, I COULD use my arms on Monday morning but I was aware of muscles that usually don't talk very often. I was very happy with how I felt given how hard the workout was...and that was Day One (Back & Chest & Abs)! Day Two was all Plyo! Sweat, sweat, sweat! Jump, jump some more and then jump some more HIGHER!! That would be a good title for Day Two. I thought my legs were very strong until I was 40 minute into the Plyo workout. I am hoping for a 6.5 mile run tomorrow morning. That may be the real test. Day Three is more upper body work and abs. Oh, I didn't tell you about the 339 sit ups. ouch. They were awesome! ouch. Really.

Overall, (3 days) I think P90x is going to kick me butt! I am going to keep plugging away at it. And yes, there are before pictures. But they will have to wait until I have 30 day pictures to put up and compare them to. Oh boy! I am sure you are excited to see those.

It's only Tuesday and it's been a busy week already. Gee, I hope my energy holds up! Thursday and Friday the littlest goes to work with me. It's been a month since he has gone to work with me. I am sure there will be pictures of his antics to look forward to.