Happy Fit Friday, friends! I hope you’re all having a fabulous start to your weekend. If you didn’t catch it on my instastories, I’m currently in San Clemente, CA on a girls trip and am in heaven. There are 9 of us that managed so sneak away from our homes and kiddos for a little refresher. Weekends like this are truly a blessing and I hope you all make time to get away. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with my girls more than I could ever express. But, to have a little time away to drink wine, read, visit coffee shops, have uninterrupted conversations with girl friends, and to sleep in a quiet room is irreplaceable. It does something to my soul that makes me a better mom when I return.
As I sit here writing this post, it’s proving to be a lot more difficult than I thought. Normally I can just sit down and let the words flow, but this time, this topic, is harder. I think it’s harder because this has been such a hard lesson for me to learn. Being a type-A personality, I have always set big goals, given myself a plan to achieve them, and followed that plan strategically. It’s what I did the last time I trained for a half marathon and it worked out great. This go-round has looked a lot different however, and I am so glad.
As y’all know, I started BBG and training for another half marathon 5 weeks ago. Nothing rigorous, just two short runs during the week, a long run on the weekend, and three 28 minute workouts in between; a totally attainable goal. Except that life doesn’t always go as we plan, right? Two weeks ago my sister (and long run buddy) had to take two weeks off running. NBD, I can handle long runs on my own. But, I think that was the catalyst to two weeks of crazy for me and my home. It threw my mind off and then life just got in the way.
Long story short, I have just had two weeks chalk full of kid events, work, blog related stuff, adult events, and just keeping up with normal life stuff like laundry. Almost every single night I’ve ended up sitting down for the first time around 8pm or later only to feel drained or left without a viable workout option. Side note – I like to run outside, so if I can’t run during the day or the hubby doesn’t get home before dark, I’m out.
So, I struggled through some short runs and some half-A-d workouts last week, but this week I did something I’ve never allowed myself to do. Smack in the middle of training for a half marathon and in the middle of my BBG program I took the week off. This was such a hard call to make because I initially felt like a quitter, like I wasn’t tough enough to hack it, like I was just making an excuse, and like I was letting myself and everyone of y’all down.
But, God had a different lesson to teach me. Almost as soon as I felt guilty did God fill me with a sense of peace. I felt the ability to give myself grace. For the first time I tried to listen to my body, to really listen to it. I was physically and emotionally drained and knew I didn’t have the capacity to push. Just like my soul needs a good mommy weekend away, so too does my body need a recharge every once in awhile.
So this week I have not worked out one time and it’s been so freeing. It’s been so freeing to just let myself rest and to not beat myself up about it. It’s crazy how much is just in our mind. I know my body won’t be broken from this week off. In fact, I know that starting up my running and BBG plan again next week will actually be life giving. I will be refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to take on the same challenge I set out for myself 5 weeks ago.
I know this post is a bit long, but how often do we really listen to our bodies instead of the world? I just wanted to encourage you guys today to know that there is so much freedom in the struggle, in the hard decisions, and in truly listening to what your body needs. I so encourage you guys to really listen to your body this week and give yourself grace. You deserve it!
