Busting A Funk
No, not the fun kind of George Clinton style funk.
Today was another of those days that I was just completely not feeling it. Between it being a Sunday, it being the end of the holidays, all my family leaving to head back to their respective homes, and the inordinate amount of holiday food that I've been eating for almost a week; I was in a pretty serious funk this morning. I hit a 3 mile run with some of my family yesterday which was a great way to get primed up for more holiday feasting that evening and the weather was phenomenal for a late December afternoon - about 55 degrees with a clear, sunny sky - so I know my funk wasn't due to lack of recent exercise. Whatever the cause was, it wasn't a fun way to start the day.
I resolved to get some exercise, but couldn't even decide if I should lift, run, or both; and if I did both which to do first which led to more sitting and moping until I figured running would make me happier and if I felt like lifting afterwards, then I'd lift afterwards. Today turned out to be another wildly unseasonable day so I was able to run in my natural state of running unconfined by a shirt.
Starting out, I figured I'd just get a three or four miler in to try and get some endorphins kicking, but about the time I started my second mile and was feeling good, I figured why not go for a bit of distance? The result was a slightly north of 10 mile run which broke my previous distance best by .03 miles - small victories count too. My real victory though was that I was able to get back into working on distances that I haven't been able to hit since probably October or so, whenever I started having injury issues.
Speaking of injury issues, I had been talking with my brother about altering strides a little bit while he was in town and it got me thinking about my stride today while I was running. I tried changing up a couple minor things and found that pushing off more with the front of my foot helped to spread the impact into my calves and quads, reducing the strain on my hamstring that's been bothering me for weeks. It wasn't a total fix, but it certainly helped me to push my distance more than I have in several runs.
The most encouraging part of my run today was a reaffirmation that I will be able to do a half marathon in the next few months. My injuries had me concerned that my body wouldn't hold up for that kind of training and distance running, but today helped to bolster my confidence once again. Hopefully, the most daunting aspect of the half marathons will be the entry fees.