running for the light

 

vacant school on
5th & Lewis, Livingston



It was my first day of the new semester and my favorite thing about the first day of school is that you usually don't have any homework; you just have getting-organized-tasks.  Getting organized is my favorite thing on planet Earth.  So after I stopped at the bookstore to get some cool books and a giant cutting board all I could think about was getting across Bozeman Pass as quickly as possible so that I could get in a run before dark.  I made it out the door by 5:15 while it was still semi-light but alas, that was not early enough to soak up any vitamin D rays and I had to turn on the headlamp after 15 minutes of running.



Just another small 2.5 miler up the hill.  The most interesting thing about today's run was how sore the front of my shoulders were.  I finally went to yoga class yesterday, which I hardly ever do but am trying like the dickens to get into the habit of.  Realistically, my body is more suitable for lifting massive amounts of weights.  And I can, let me tell you.  But last year I decided to stop lifting weights in an effort to help my body become more efficient at endurance running.  You wouldn't continue to give a fat kid candy and I couldn't continue to let myself lift weights anymore.  The idea was somewhere along the line of what happened to Lance Armstrong when he got cancer, lost all of his muscle mass, then was able to rebuild his body into a tiny endurance machine.  I definitely did lose a lot of muscle mass over the last year but since I wasn't administering myself chemotherapy or starving myself, most of that muscle mass was replaced by soft, chewy flesh.  Now when I fall down while I'm running I wind up with almost instantaneous bruises.  Bruises are a brand new phenomenon in my life - apparently muscles are like a suit of armor?!  So now this year I am introducing yoga and Pilates into my exercise routine to help build my strength back up without adding muscle mass, hence the sore shoulders.  Yup we'll see how this one goes...

Historically, managing my running goals while I'm in studio has been almost impossible.  This semester I am determined to use running as a tool for managing my sanity rather then an additional imposed element into my busy schedule.  Thankfully it will only continue to get warmer and lighter everyday which will help to keep the spirits up.  I'll be running for the light all the way until summer.