I took a four day hiatus after my graceful fall on Barr Trail (it was actually more like a fall off of Barr Trail) on Saturday.  It was four days of mind games: am I the only runner on the planet who believes that if I take a few consecutive days off I'll lose everything I've worked toward (altitude training, hard won strength on the hills, etc)?  These were my legitimate concerns for the past 96 hours (four days off sounds like a pretty measly accomplishment when I put it into hours). I actually wondered if todays run would be as difficult as the first few times I ran after moving to the Springs.

My point is, without running I blow everything out of proportion - even running itself.  When I run I realize I'm capable of running; so, as usual, once my legs woke up and my lungs got with the program at Stratton earlier this evening, I was good to go.

Feel free to say something along the lines of: "Well, duh, Mary you've been running for years now.  What difference does four days make?" because that is the logical response. This post will serve as a reference in the future - I've spent the last few days thinking I've lost months worth of training, really I just wasted a lot of time worry about it.

 Of course it took the escape of a run to come to my sense and realize that, then again runners know that most good thinking happens on a trail.   So, it was a huge relief to just get out there again, knowing I've taken good care of my achy ankle.  It was an even bigger relief to see that time off doesn't immediately erase all the time and miles I've put in thus far.

Here's my plan for the next few days:

• Run at the Garden tomorrow morning (sort of a practice for the 10-miler...not the whole thing, just parts)
• Run with my Girls on the Run team at the Women's Distance Festival 5K on Saturday.  
• In between, I'll keep icing my ankle for good measure, and speak nicely to it of course, since that always helps to heal running bumps and bruises :-)