Learning to listen to my body

This morning was one of those days that I ran when I probably shouldn't have. All the signs were there. I was still pretty achy from my long run on Sunday (legs and heel), I was short on sleep for the past 2 nights, we had been out walking around for Halloween, and I was sooooo tired! But some habits die hard. In a way, I told myself to stop being a wimp and stick to the schedule. The schedule had me down for 7 miles. And my type A personality insisted on sticking to it.

So when the alarm went off at 5:45 am, I was very comfortable, and could have so easily reset the alarm and fallen right back to sleep...but duty called and I rolled out of bed. As usual, I had laid out my running gear the night before, so I just had to pull it on and get on out the door. With 7 miles ahead, I had to pack my fuel belt as well. This was going to take me over an hour to do.

I set the iPod to a 170 bpm song and headed out. It was still dark, but already it was getting lighter outside. I was happy for daylight savings being over. Just over a mile in, I set out to cross the 4 lane road I run on and halfway across my left ankle turned on me. Another sign I should have stayed in bed! I hobbled over to the other side of the road and tested it out - it ached for a little but running on it did not hurt. I figured if it bugged me I would head home. But as I passed my street it was feeling fine so I kept going.

The best part of my run happened around mile 5. As I ran along a brick wall, at the end of the wall, sitting on a wooden fenced area, was a large red-tailed hawk - just sitting there watching the world go by. I caught sight of it just as I was going by. It was about 10 ft from me. I ran past and then stopped, turned around, and just enjoyed the view for a moment. Then figured I would check him out again when I ran back by on my return (which I did). A little ways down from the hawk I encountered another runner/walker and told her about the hawk so she could enjoy it too.

The last two miles were pretty tough. I felt spent. Somehow I managed a respectable time of 1 hour 22 minutes (11:28 pace) - about the average pace I have been doing for my 7-8 mile runs. However, I have been limping around all day because my heel is really bugging me. So, to give myself and my heel a break, I am going to take the next 3 days off from running. Tomorrow, if I am feeling up to it, I will hit the elliptical machine at work. I feel like I need some recovery time - and this time I think I will listen to my body for a change.