Half in 30: Not racing it

Today I ran, my only run this week. I ran for 56 minutes, not the 2:17 I was aiming for 30 days ago. I ran slow, not a run-like-there’s-no-tomorrow kind of pace that I was planning to. I ran with the husband, and the kid in the buggy, not with other running enthusiasts. I did not race. I decided to skip the half marathon, ending my #halfin30 challenge today.

There’s a lot to be said about running through the pain, not giving up, endurance, etc. But my priorities are clear, my health and family on top, my job, running, and everything else after. I cannot take chance on my health especially now that I have a kid. If not for the painful feet and weakened immune system, I would have run. But last Wednesday, I had to leave work at lunchtime because of a splitting headache.

So I chose to rest, recuperate and go back to the basic, slow build-up.

Am I disappointed? A little. But that’s life. You can plan everything beforehand but circumstances change all the time and if you don’t want to get stressed, you’d be flexible.

It was a beautiful day today, cold but not freezing, a bit of blue sky, no wind and no rain. My feet were not as painful as I expected it would. I did proper stretching after and some core exercises. If I want to race next month, I had to pay more attention to my core. Maybe a flatter abs would not be that bad after all.