Half-marathon training
Week nineteen, day one

Something kind of weird happened yesterday. I hadn’t run since last Tuesday for one reason or another. Yesterday morning I woke up with a bloom of anxiety in my stomach for no good reason, and suddenly thought, “I wish I had gotten up early enough to run before work.”

Nah, I had plenty of time to run my four miles after work, so what difference did it make? “I would feel better if I could go run right now,” my brain said. I was antsy and grouchy all day yesterday and when I finally made it to the trail, I didn’t even wait to get up there – I started running on my first step out of the car.

Physically it wasn’t my best run – there was a dampness in the air that bothered my knees, and I jackrabbited the start so much that I had to pull the pace way back in mile three, but mentally? Equilibrium restored. Anxiety and grouchiness averted. World back on its axis. Who knew?