Accidental Rest Week

I didn't mean to take a week off from running. 
After my half marathon on the 29th, I took a couple of mornings off, but also managed to get a couple of runs in along the Bow River before leaving Calgary.
Last Saturday, we were wrapping up (work) training and then I wanted to get a good chunk of the drive done.  Knowing it would be a long day, I opted for the extra rest in the morning.
Sunday morning, I set my alarm early for a run in Revelstoke before completing the drive home, but when my alarm went off at 6am, I couldn't get out of bed.  I hadn't been sleeping well for the entire 2 weeks in Calgary, and that combined with long work days was catching up with me.  I let myself have an extra hour of sleep before getting up for breakfast and the drive home.
Monday, we were moving houses for work, so rather than run, I knew I would get a work out in by carrying 40 boxes up a flight of stairs, lifting furniture and unloading into the new house at the other end.

We were heading out early to another community on Tuesday, but I brought my running gear with me, with plans to head out later in the day.  One thing led to another and the day was done before I knew it - without a run.

Wednesday, I set my alarm early to go for a run before hitting community number 3, but when my alarm went off, I just didn't feel like running.  Since I'm  not technically training for anything this week, I let my body decide, and stayed in bed. 

I made an agreement to get up early with two of the youth there for a run, but when I got up at 6 and they weren't ready, I told myself I could go back to bed and run later, except that other distractions came up, and then I had a meeting to get to, and then there was more work to do, and things to get caught up on, and new staff asking questions, and long story short, another day passed, leaving me exhausted, and without running.

On Friday, I knew I wouldn't run.  I still had a to-do list a mile long and I wanted to get it done so I could start my weekend feeling relaxed, rather than with a bunch of unfinished work hanging over my head.  Besides, Saturday is a day made for running!

Except that on Saturday, I slept in.  Can you blame me after that week?  By the time I got up, it was too warm and muggy.  At this point, I was making excuses.  If I'd really wanted to run, I could have, but I knew that after a week off, it wasn't going to be pretty.  So no run again.

Today, the BF and I got out for a short, 90 minute hike, and I did a bit of running away from the swarms of mosquitos.  I'm just making this harder on myself now.  The longer I go without running, the more I feel like I need to run, and the harder that run is going to feel.

Good thing marathon training starts tomorrow!  I'm pretty sure it's going to be a tough first week, but I'm happy that my plan starts with just a short 5K, easy run on Monday!  I'm really trying not to be too hard on myself for missing this whole week.  I think I probably needed it after training hard for a half marathon, immediately after running my second marathon on May 1st.  (I took a whole 2 rest days after that race).  Even though I wanted to run this week, and planned to run on several days, I also felt myself dreading the run itself.  That doesn't happen often, but when it does, I think it means it's time for a break.  I had decided on my training plan for my next marathon a while ago, but reviewing it today, I'm excited to start it, and am looking forward to tomorrow's 5K.  Looks like the rest is paying off already!