I posted about this on other social media, so apologies if you see it twice. But I ran the distance of a half marathon today!
Yesterday, I was a mess. Friday night, husband and I were talking until 1am, then the littlest was up until 2, then I was up again at 5. I didn’t want to nap and wreck my sleep schedule, but I definitely wasn’t going to be able to take my scheduled long run either.
Today we went to church and to family faith formation which happens once a month. I had the chance to connect with another mother whose son I taught in kindergarten and first grade catechism before we changed formats. Her son is A’s age and has adhd and autism also. I guess she’s been really isolated and was ready to be really open about what they are going through, including her husband seeking a diagnosis after their son’s. I appreciated hearing her experiences and we exchanged numbers.
Anyway, after all that, I went for my run when we got home. I was really good about maintaining an easy pace at first. I didn’t have mileage in mind; my longest previous run was 11 miles and I knew I’d need to pace myself if I wanted to add onto it.
Then sometime during mile 7, a little longer than an hour in, I experienced that runner’s high again. Just this total endorphin (or I guess technically endocannabinoid) rush, a real feeling of euphoria. And I was like, what if I just kept running for the full 13.1 miles? So I did.
What surprised me was that the euphoria didn’t wear off while I was running. I finished that last mile singing out loud to the music in my headphones.
Anyway, I’m not entirely certain that I should have pushed my mileage like that. A running coach probably would click their tongue at me. But after the intensity of the past week, I really needed that moment to feel good.
Came home to A in total meltdown mode. Full on hunger strike and tearing apart his room meltdowns. And by the time he was finally in bed for the night, the big guys were disturbed enough that I decided to have an honest, age-appropriate discussion about their little brother’s struggles.
So yeah, if God wanted to gift me an hour of euphoria on my run, I’ll take it. Even if it means very sore legs tomorrow.
