The Girl Who Was a Runner

I have to admit that I have purposely neglected this thing. I think in part I was trying to avoid facing my thoughts and trying to make sense of where I am at right now. How about I do this in bullet point style to try and have some sort of organization..

• I made it successfully through Finals week and graduated with my Associates in Arts. A huge portion of my stress was coming not only from this but also getting my transfer finalized to start at my new University in the spring. I managed to survive with my sanity mostly in tact.
• Thanksgiving flew by and Christmas is right around the corner. I’ve been a bit of a scrooge because of the stress of school and personal stuff, but I have finally started to come around to enjoying more of a break than the holiday itself. This is my first holiday season living completely on my own and it is a little strange and lonely.
• I am enjoying using my free time to explore other avenues to relieve stress and enjoy myself. My bike is getting quite the workout lately and I am enjoying taking it on long group rides on the greenways every weekend. I went from having never ridden with a group, or on the roads, to having done both in the space of a week. My ability to clip in and out is improving as well as my shifting and handling abilities. I wont say the same for my balance and turning… I will openly admit that I ride fast but like an idiot.

Photographic evidence of idiot on bicycle shenanigans…

• But wait! Where is all the running?? How many miles am I doing?? What about the races I am running?? Well I haven’t been doing a lot of it. My hamstring and I decided that we would be better off going separate ways and taking a break for a while. I knew something was off after the trail race I DQ’d back in November and my hammie got more and more angry. What started as an annoying knot, grew into a massive spasm, grew into a severe strain. It has taken weeks and weeks of zero running to be able to walk around comfortably and I am in no rush to run with pain any longer. I miss running and it is a huge part of my identity and so not having it for the past month has been a little traumatizing. With all the other stress in my life the past month, and then an injury on top of that, it has been a challenging time emotionally. I really don’t know how I have any friends willing to put up with my cranky ass anymore, but somehow I do. Thanks guys! I really don’t hate you!

So moving forward into the New Year I will once again be starting from scratch and looking for new goals to accomplish. My skills on the bike are improving and I have been toying with the idea of something in that area. I have also been playing with the idea of slowly coming back to some shorter distance running for a bit. At this point everything is up in the air and I plan to keep it that way.