Struggling

I follow Runner's World on Facebook and this quote by Joan Benoit Samuelson was posted today.  It really hit home.  I was never an athletic kid, in fact I was the complete opposite...totally non-athletic, chubby and undisciplined.  I wasn't until my mid-twenties that I started running, road racing and focusing on my health.

Running and exercise in general was a chore at first, but as life went on and became more complicated running became an outlet for me.  It became especially important to me when Mr. PS was battling cancer and then recovering.  As his primary caregiver, it was a familiar and normal activity for me during a time of uncertainty.

When people ask or comment about my chosen past-time, I often joke that I'm "running" away from my family.  What I mean is that I'm claiming time for myself.  I find that if I take that hour for myself, I can better serve others.  As a stay at home mom, my life really revolves around my family and their needs.  They know as well as I do that I need that hour long sweat session everyday!

I ran my tenth and final half marathon on Labor Day weekend.  Sadly, my feet and knees can't stand the distance anymore.  I've run three 5Ks and one 10K since.  I have two more short races scheduled this fall, another 5K and a four miler, but my sore knees are telling me that I need to stop.

This is a tough one and possibly difficult to understand if you're not a runner.  For me, there's nothing like hitting the (preferably smooth) pavement with a good playlist and getting into the rhythm of a run. Somedays you feel like you can go for miles, other days it's a grind, but you never regret a run.  It has become a part of me that I love and I'm afraid that I will be lost without it.

So I'm struggling a bit with this, not a major life problem of course, but one that is on my mind daily that I thought I would share...