Alexis Senge JohnsonIn recent posts I’ve touched on the fact that I let my Maid of Honor talk me into running three 5ks with her. However, before I knew it she had talked me into a fourth and then I talked myself into a fifth so that I could run with my colleagues at work in a corporate 5k. She and I will be running four 5ks together in a sixty day time span, then I will run one more in April and she will run three or four more with her boyfriend. She’s calling it her “race to the dress” since she’s got two weddings in November that she’ll be a part of. I’m calling it the start to my “year of healthy habits.”
In addition to training for all of these runs multiple times a week, I kicked off January by beginning the George St. Pierre Rush Fit series of DVDs that I have commandeered from my fiancé. It’s been an exhausting five weeks already, but I’m trying to not let it slow me down. I’ve come to find that the 5ks give me an immediate goal and throughout all of January I was focusing on an event that I have to attend in February.
I bought myself a new cocktail dress that would motivate me to push myself even farther because, let’s be honest, us gals can be a bit vain when it comes to looking our best for special events. Thus far the plan has worked because each day closer to the event drives me to push a bit further and just when I tire of running after work I realize I have another race approaching on a Saturday morning that I don’t want to fall behind for.
As motivated as I am, I can’t say that my body is agreeing with all of this hard work. My shins remind me every day of how badly they are in need of new running shoes. The pair I’m wearing now lasted me through all of the training and races I participated in last year and they are well overdue for retirement. If the shoes are suffering half as much as my muscles seem to be then I can imagine it’s pretty bad. I’ve been trying to balance myself right on that edge of working out too hard and causing a Fibro flair up, but not letting myself slack so much that I don’t stay focused and on track. If given the chose I would wish to crawl into bed as soon as I get home, but I know that’s a bad habit to fall back into. That’s what leads to the restless leg pains throughout the day and the burning sensation in my back.
It’s hard to believe I have to cause more muscle pain to combat other types of pain, but I’m learning that’s the life I now lead. At the end of March when I finished four out of the five 5ks I know I’ll look back and see that all the sweat and exhaustion was worth it. Hopefully by that point I’ll be able to see it was worth it in my continually baggy clothing as well. Although the training, the pain and the fibro are all difficult to endure, I know that the finish is well worth chasing as it makes me stronger.
