Sometimes You Shouldn't Go Running

No, really, I mean it!

This weekend my marathon training schedule called for 8 miles yesterday, 18 today. It's an important weekend in the 4-month plan because usually a long run would come after a rest day instead of an 8-mile day, so in theory I'd be running the last 18 miles of an imaginary marathon. Learning perseverance and all that.

However! This weekend, schedule be danged, I went to visit one of my very best friends up in Colorado. Yes, I brought my running shoes. Yes, I planned to run. But the whole visit was only 40 hours long, so why would I want to spend such a large chunk of it running? Especially when we could:

1. Sit around Andrea's kitchen table drinking sugar-free peppermint mochas (3 each) and chatting.

2. Play with her adorable little girls.

3. Eat lunch at a cute downtown restaurant, out on the patio in the sunshine, because even though it's December it was a sparkly, sunny day. (Please note at this point in the day, we were Being Good. I had salad and Penny and Andrea had soup. We're so conscientious!)

4. Finally, FINALLY see Breaking Dawn 2 in the theater (best seats in the house!):

5. Stop for a quick drink! But it was Happy Hour and 2-for-1 so it wasn't our fault we had to have two each. They were small. Still Being Good.

6. Go shopping!

7. Go out for dinner! And lo and behold, they still had 2-for-1. Which meant all my anti-junk-food inhibitions went on a mini-vacation and I downed a mountain of chicken strips and sweet potato fries.

I started to do the math at this point to determine the number of treadmill miles required to counteract my appetite, but I decided it didn't matter. You know why? Andrea and Penny and I only get to hang out a few times per decade. We had such a lovely time! I did NOT get up and run for three hours this morning. We had more peppermint mochas, went to an interesting and enjoyable church service, and got pizza. And then we talked some more.

What a great weekend! I'm not worried about the training plan because I know I'll be well-rested for the coming week of training. And I'm mentally refreshed. Sometimes that's more necessary than pushing yourself physically, know what I mean?