Nope... don't worry... you didn't miss anything. Indeed, I did not run for the rest of my vacation. I certainly didn't set out to be lazy and I'm sure this is only the first failed goal with many more to follow, but I did fail to run 3 times during my vacation. I could tell you that I had a good excuse every day, but that would be a lie, so I won't bother. Truth be told, I preferred to spend my days on the beach or at the pool, having a few beers was more appealing than jogging in 90+ degrees, and I simply enjoyed starting my day with a cup of coffee on the deck overlooking the ocean more than I would have enjoyed putting a few more miles on my running shoes.
Nevertheless, I can truthfully say that I did get in some exercise on my vacation. One afternoon, while our son slept and everyone else was out of the house, my husband and I spent some time by the pool. I pretended I was going to swim a few laps to at least get some kind of workout in, but after one time across our not so great big pool, I was reminded that I'm just about the worst swimmer ever. Unfortunately for me, my husband is a great swimmer and decided to give me pointers... so very, very annoying! I was very close to my usual reaction when it comes to any kind of criticism... I had every intention of never swimming in front of him again... but it did occur to me how silly that really was. After all, he was only trying to help. So, instead of being the jerk I really wanted to be, I listened... then I attempted to do what he suggested.
He suggested I was wasting a lot of energy with my arms by coming way too far out of the water. I worked on my form for a few laps and felt pretty good about my improvement. I was now a good swimmer.
Oh wait... there's more? Apparently, once I got the arms down, my husband thought he should move on to another area that could use some work. It would seem my kicking was all wrong too! I took a deep breath and, once again, figured I'd take his advice. After a few more laps, I somehow managed to work that out too. It was an even bigger struggle to handle both at the same time. But, once I had my legs and arms working together, I was feeling like a great swimmer.
Apparently my husband didn't agree. He felt my breathing could use a little work. What the hell? It's not like I'm trying to become an olympic athlete! Sheesh! But, in all fairness, he definitely wasn't wrong in this area. After years of ear problems, I refused to put my head under water. I might as well have been doing the doggy paddle. I probably looked ridiculous and he was actually doing me a huge favor by suggesting that I just give it a whirl. It was still a challenge and took me a few more laps to figure it all out, but when all was said and done, at least I felt like I actually got some exercise. And I still may not be a great swimmer, but maybe now I don't look quite so foolish doing it.
Which brings me to today's run... my first in a week. I tried to take it easy and planned to go 20 minutes, regardless of the distance. I had a stopping point in mind, but when I hadn't reached it in my set time, I decided to go a few extra minutes to get to where I'd hoped to. The good news is, my breathing was great, my lungs weren't burning and I was feeling pretty good mentally. My legs, on the other hand, were not at all pleased. I get the distinct impression that my knees are pretty pissed at my decision to run this evening. I was pretty sure my knee caps were about ready to explode when I finally stopped. I'm guessing I'm going to have to spend a lot more time stretching this week.
Oddly enough, I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's run...
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