Posted by Michelle Hering on Tue, Oct 13, 2009
Last week I came to the conclusion that I needed to postpone my goal of
running a marathon on October 25. It was a hard decision to make, but
in the end, it was the best thing for me. I'm able to work out at my
own intensity and not feel the added stress of a marathon rapidly
approaching.
I've been feeling great these days—no more pain, no more
overwhelming fatigue. My doctors aren't 100 percent sure what was going on
with me, but they feel that I have some autoimmune disorder, which was
exacerbated by stress. I'm just taking it one day at a time, relaxing
as much as I can and attempting to avoid stressful situations.
Removing the marathon from my immediate future was a huge step in
reducing the stress in my life.
My new fitness goals are 1) to maintain consistency with exercise
throughout the holidays, and 2) to try a few forms of exercise that are
new to me, particularly yoga (any kind) and boxing. I know they are on
different ends of the spectrum—stretching and controlled breathing
compared to vigorous cardio—but I have very little experience with
yoga and can't wait to get better at it. And boxing just sounds like
it'll be fun!
Eventually, I want to consider another marathon. I haven't chosen
one yet, but my friend Rebecca is coming to visit in a couple of weeks
and she, my husband, and I are going to sit down together and take a
look at what races are out there. Rebecca hasn't participated in a
marathon and she's excited about the idea of training for one. My guess
is we will look for something in April or May. I won't have to start
thinking about training until after the holidays.
In the meantime, I plan to take full advantage of this more mellow
period of keeping fit. I'm going to be looking on the Best Life community boards (where hundreds of members swap tips, offer encouragement and support each other) for more ideas for new kinds of exercise I can try out so that I can
keep my workouts interesting and effective. And most important, I'm
going to embrace giving my body a break from all of the hardcore
running (for now!). I'm dedicated to staying in shape, but I'm also fully committed to being kind to my body and giving it a break when it
needs one.