Deciding Not to Run

“'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.” - Frank Lloyd Wright

After another max capacity week of working full-time, parenting full-time, partnering full-time, thinking full-time, and running little, I drove home from work on Friday afternoon and decided NOT to run the City of Oaks Half-Marathon.

Simply thinking about the logistics of daylight savings, packet pick-up, nutrition, and cold-weather gear amid all the noise of the week that had just finished and the potential promise of a quiet weekend ahead made me crazy.  In a previous life, this would have been nothing, but on this particular Friday afternoon it was enough to send this mom over the edge. Nowhere did I see any joy in this race.

Registering for the race was my way of encouraging myself to again find some consistency in my running.  And I achieved that goal long before race day.  My best run of the last few months was the 10 miler I ran on trails in Moses Cone State Park as part of the yoga & running retreat I participated in a few weeks ago.

So instead of waking early on Sunday morning, braving the cold, and joining a few thousand others for what I'm sure was a great race, I slept in, made delicious homemade waffles for my family, read the paper, ran a quick 5 miles, warmed my post-run belly with slow-cooked veggie chili & cornbread, got a lot done around the house and enjoyed a carefree afternoon walk to our local brewery with my favorite running buddy and her dad.  A perfect, joyful, and simple race day if you ask me.