Day of rest

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Today would be an off-day from running. I knew enough to take one and I had decided that I’d go with running six days a week and one day off for as long as my body allowed. I love running and what it does for me and wanted to stick with it for now. I’d been watching runners for the last 10 years and been jealous that they could be out there running and I couldn’t. So…I’ll just keep it up for now.

Anyway, it was Saturday and I headed for my weekend job of landscaping and home maintenance. I put in four hours before heading for home and more of the same. I found myself on my hands and knees pulling weeds and trimming around all the rock gardens in our yard. After bending, trimming, pulling, cutting and other such lawn care necessities, I found myself shooting hoops in the front yard. My ankles and feet were sore from all the running and I had absolutely no lift in my knees. Sprinting to grab an errant shot before it reached the road was painful at best, and ugly to see if anyone had been looking. I was feeling very, very old.

I had hoped to get out for a ride, but Holly had assured me we would go to Holden Arboretum for a walk later and so I kept working around the house. When, at around 6:30 p.m., I realized we were running out of daylight, I asked her about our hike.

“Um…I’m making dinner and don’t think we can go?”

Okay…now I was in trouble. Not enough time for a ride and I had to do something. For a brief moment I considered putting on the running gear and heading for the park. I felt fine, after all, and did my body know I’d done 6 in a row? I thought a little more and decided against it. What with all the work I’d done outside all day, I’d easily burned more calories than I would have in a hour run. ‘Take the day off from working out and go hard tomorrow’ was my final thought on the subject.

Oh yeah…and my butt muscles were screaming from all of the bending I’d been doing. Running would have been a real pain.