Not Running Sucks

No distance - Couch surfing - Mental Running - Nada

For those of you just tuning in, on Saturday I fell whilst being overzealous on a nonforgiving National Forest trail, and performed a bit of magic: I turned my left ankle into a left cankle.

So here I am, on the couch, where I've been for the majority of the time since Saturday afternoon. I've got prescription ultra aspirin, I've got a lace up ankle brace (o, excuse me, cankle brace), I've got a cat, I've got an icepack, I've got a computer, and I've got time. Lots of time.

I would like to say that this is a chance for me to relax and get in touch with my running Chi. Trouble is, that only took about one day. And my running Chi said, "Hey, know what would be great? If we ran. That would be great."

To add insult to literal injury, the weather for the past two days has been glorious. 60 degrees and Carolina Blue skies in the middle of January. Not even the first day of class could put a damper on that.

So I watched it from my window, not even able to walk around a park and feeling guilty not sitting outside because I feel guilty when I don't spend time with my kitties when I can.

There are times when you can't really appreciate what you have, what you love to do, until you can't do it anymore. This is one of those times.

When I was in the horse industry, one of the things we did to get extra energy out of the horses, who are usually cooped up in their stalls 24/7 on the road, is longe them. Imagine hooking a 20 foot leash to a horse, standing in one spot, and letting the horse canter around and around you while you stayed put. For the most part, the horses really loved it. They stretched their legs and bucked and felt their muscles before having to settle in and go to work for the day.

At one stable, I worked with a woman who woke up at 5am to go for a 45 minute jog before work, even though she rode about 6-7 horses a day and trained as well. When I asked her why, she replied, "I have to longe myself in the morning, otherwise I don't feel right."

That phrase stuck with me, and I heard myself repeating her words on many a run. I have a lot of energy. If I don't get it out, it makes me feel oogy. Right now, my oog factor is off the chart.

I know that I still have to take my time, and I'm not about to do something stupid to make an already tough situation worse. But all the posts lately about not having fun while running, not wanting to go for my run, having it be a chore because it's part of a "program" are now gone.

Next week, when the weather is nice and I'm testing out my legs again, I know that it will be hard for me not to want to buck a little. After all, I won't have been longed for over a week.