Head, gut and heart align on the trail

A year ago this time life was very different. I had completed the Chicago Marathon and was fired up to do two more in the next six months. Ha! Despite a carefully planned running schedule – known as the Swedish Fish Plan – none of it came to fruition. My running scaled back and I ended up not even training for the Disney Half. It seemed life just got in the way.

Jump ahead one year – and today I feel like I have enough going on to fill two lives! And that is exactly why I can’t let my running take a back seat!

For the past few months I have been training for the Women’s Half Marathon in St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s next Sunday. But factor in children, work and travel and I haven’t created the perfect recipe for training. But I’ve noticed on the days that I run, I can cope with life so much better. So last week in Ireland – I made a point to pack my running gear and make a modest run around Monaghan. The hills were hillier, the air was definitely chillier, the scenery was breathtaking – and by the end, my frozen cheeks were sore from smiling! It’s hard not to be happy after an experience like that.

No doubt - running is free therapy. (Some days it’s even like free drugs! You walk away like you’ve taken a happy pill!) In fact, I am learning the harder I run, the better the therapy. And a pleasant side effect is I actually become a better runner.

Today’s therapy bill might have been quite high – had it not been for running. Around mile 10 – after literally moaning or groaning in pain – clarity took over. Things that worried me seemed to slip away. It’s like I dropped them on the trail somewhere – and I surely was not going back to look for them! Running doesn’t solve my problems; it just gives me the clear head to handle them. And in some cases, like today, a good hard run helps my head, gut and heart align. And once again, my cheeks were sore from smiling. And that’s something I couldn’t imagine happening in a therapist’s office!