Ugh, this morning I found myself making more excuses to not go for a run. I think the hardest part of falling out of the habit is the daunting feeling of not just running today, but doing it every day. It is more a matter of becoming a runner again than just running today. I think that is the crux of the difficulty in getting started again. The good news is that once I do get going again, I will WANT to run again. It is just a matter of forcing myself to get over this case of the lazies and doing it.

Fighting the excuses is the hardest part. Well no, actually the knowledge that I don’t have to get up early to run is the sweet intoxication that keeps me from wanting to plan a run. I guess it is a combination of the two. My biggest excuse at the moment is my back which is still giving me grief. The thing is I know if I go running it will help to loosen up my back and get me on the road to mend. Right now I am just so damn stiff. I don’t believe it has anything to do with ms, probably more likely age than anything. That and the damn daylight savings time.

It is interesting to me how this collapse in my running has occurred. I had the really busy week where I didn’t manage to get out to run. I kept thinking I had too much to do to spend the time running. Its more than just an hour out of the day to run. Its getting ready to run, cooling down, showering after the run. Takes too much time. So that is how this all started. I believe this week of no running had a totally adverse effect on my system. The I had the stomach flu which added to the misery and that combined with all the time I spent in bed made my back ripe for getting strained. I think all three have not only combined to make me feel physically unready to run, but mentally as well.

So here I sit (literally) trying to figure out how I am going to get past this and get back out on the roads. I honestly don’t think ti is going to take much, once I get past the first time that is. Unless I manage to roll an ankle (which would sadly be fitting) I will be just fine getting back into it. Maybe I need to buy myself a new shirt or something. Nah, I have plenty of running gear. Plus I have my new shoes, even if I don’t really like them that much.

One tactic I have always found to work well is to pick up a running book and start reading. This always seems to get me into the mindset of wanting to run. I have a good one too sitting on my shelf. The problem is I am in the middle of several books already (another excuse…)

Writing this today is making me want to get out there. I think I am ready to begin again. It is going to take a couple of weeks to get back to where I was before, but that is ok. Then I can work on taking some further steps like increasing my speed which has needed some help as of late. Ok, I feel much better. Time to run again. Time to call myself a runner again.