Days 223-225: Every Relationship Needs Romance

Day 223:  Monday was the day after the half-marathon and I. Was. Sore.  My legs did not want to bend and my left knee felt like it had been stuck with a knife.  Working out was going to be difficult, regardless of what I chose to do.  I decided to call up a friend that could hold me accountable for my daily sweat.  We decided on a 90 minute walk in Washington Park to loosen up my legs.  Once I started going I felt totally fine, it was just initial movement that took some confidence to gain.

Day 224:  Yesterday it hit a record-breaking 96 degrees in Denver!   I walked in the morning for an hour before the heat took over and got out the last of the soreness in my legs.

Day 225:  As I was training for the half-marathon I forgot why I loved running.  The height of this anti-running part of my life was during the week of the 18o’s .   I went out to run I was feeling defeated by my own expectations.  All of my running “shoulds” were crowding my mind and making me lose sight of why I enjoyed the sport to begin with.

Sunday’s half-marathon was all I needed to remind me of why I want to keep this partnership in my life.  It was the roses, chocolate, romantic poem and loving kiss that I needed to revive my faith in the sport.  At first, there is a sense of camaraderie made out of nervous anticipation in the corrals, the collective happiness when my wave crosses the starting line, listening to the sounds of pounding feet on the pavement and the universal heavy breaths,  reading the inspirational signs made by complete strangers, high-fiving anyone who is willing, runners cheering on other runners as one of them loses strength, spectators cheering on their loved ones, watching every person complete some sort of goal and the best one- crossing the finish line and hugging my fiance, knowing that despite his own exhaustion of working all night, he was still there to watch me finish.

With all of the running butterflies lingering around and my soreness was completely gone, I decided to go for a run today.  I used my new foam roller before and after my short three-mile run to help alleviate the IT band pain.  Although the tenderness is still there, now I have decided to figure out how to rid myself of the pain and make running a bigger priority in my life.  That, my friends, is true romance for a sport.

*100% unrelated to my blog, I would like you all to know that today I got to shake President Obama’s hand.  That will go down as one of the greatest things I have had the opportunity to do in my life.