one month...

It's official... training starts in one month.

That means the Go! St. Louis (half) Marathon is only 22 weeks away. Which coincidentally means I've got to get my but off of the couch* and start training again. I haven't registered yet. Actually I'll start training trusting that someone will pay for my registration fees. It's on the Christmas list.

I went for a run yesterday. It was awesome! It's getting chilly now and dark ridiculously early. I could have headed out earlier and avoided the dust to dark run, but I've only been getting about 4 hours of sleep a night and really needed that nap. As the sun was setting, I got into this running trance as I listened to my breathing and feet scurrying through the fall leaves hitting the pavement. At one point I had to take my headphones out so I could enjoy the oh so brief moment of running bliss.

There comes a time in one's life when you realize you need to start taking better care of your muscles. Today that moment came as I was putting (or trying) to put on my shoes. I know... I'm 26 years old,putting on my shoes shouldn't cause major injury, but damn I got a charlie horse. I've gotten several in my day** and still don't know exactly how you're supposed to take care of these things in the moment. I get that I need to eat more bananas, but while you are cussing like a sailor and hobbling around, what exactly are you supposed to do?

This brings me to another point... I like taking risks. Like the risk I take every time I walk out the door for a run. My shoes are past the point of supportive. I need new shoes. I'm risking injury. They're on my Christmas list too. Goodnight I hope my family thinks practical this year.

Well, as you can probably tell from the randomness, I really need to get to bed...

* and by couch I mean make time to actually run. It's another job and I've already got two of those. I'm tired all the time.
** including a rather embarrassing and humorous story of having the flu and losing all control of bodily functions.