Call Me Converted

“The moment when something major is accomplished, we are so relieved to finally be done with it that we are already rushing, at least mentally, into THE FUTURE. Wisdom, however, requests a pause. If we cannot give ourselves a pause, the Universe will likely give it to us. In the form of an illness, a massive mercury in retrograde, our car breaking down. And we find ourselves required to stop, to sit down, to reflect.”  ~ Alice Walker

That quote has been up on my Facebook page since I was a sophomore in college. And it pretty much sums up my life about right now. I’ve been going at about 100 miles an hour and as much as I’d like to deny it, my body is putting up a pretty good protest.

I had just sworn off doctors on Friday after my follow up with the spine specialist. My back had been feeling pretty good and I was ready to just deal with the tightness/burning in my shins. Running is what makes me happy and I am done complaining about all the aches and pains that come with it. This is the new, smiley, sunshiny me. I like it a lot. :)

Well, karma (or walking in heels all over Manhattan) came back to bite me in the butt. After the race on Saturday, I noticed my foot was a little achy. Being the genius I am I decided to just ignore it and head out for my long run on Sunday. I got my 90 minutes in, but looking back now I know I never should have done it. The last 30 minutes I could really tell I’d done something to mess my foot up. I woke up Monday morning and it was pretty swollen.

But, like I said, I’d resolved to have a better attitude about the whole thing. So instead of running anyways and complaining to anyone who would listen (did I think that would make people think I was tough? I was wrong!) I got in the pool with Kevin for a pool running tutorial. Um, I’m in love. All the benefits of running, with none of the pain?! Just call me converted. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never permanently trade in my running shoes for a floatation belt and rope, but I love that it gives me all the mental and physical benefits of a great run with none of the bad kind of pain.

Image from Runner's World

It definitely didn’t hurt than I picked up on it right away. Apparently I have a pretty good pool running form. So I’ll be perfecting my pool running technique all week—hopefully I’ll be back on the road in time for Saturday’s long run. But right now my focus is on staying healthy and happy and I think I found my ticket. There’s only one week to go (O-M-G) till I leave for Israel. The last thing I want is for something stupid to ruin this trip.

Meet me in the pool?