Hard on the body, easy on the mind

Yesterday's run was really therapeutic, yet I almost missed out on it because I was so exhausted from the weekend. We'd had a special event for our daughter that involved many visitors from out of town and much entertaining around the house and pool. My stamina for running far exceeds that of talking (and worse, listening) so, after the last of our guests headed home, I debated whether to run or rest.

Since I didn't have time to run on Saturday I felt a little guilty about resting, yet again. Guilt won out and I made my way out the door with a target of covering about 3 miles in the hot and humid late afternoon air. The difference in temperature between sections of tree covered road versus areas without shade was noticeable. I tried to pick roads where the shade was predominant on the left side and had no illusions that I'd have a high performance run.

By the time I made it home I felt energized and the stress of the weekend and the upcoming week was far offset by a feeling of relaxation and accomplishment. It's sometimes counter-intuitive to force yourself to do something taxing when you are already feeling stressed. However, when you do it, the end result is almost always positive.