Excuses! Excuses!

It's been kind of a struggle to find the motivation to get out and run the last few weeks. Finding excuses for not exercising comes pretty naturally to me... years of practice makes perfect. At first my excuse was, "I just ran a half marathon, so I'm taking a little break." I actually thought that was a pretty good one, and the people I used it on sure seemed to buy it. Then the kids and I went out of town for a few days. On my own in San Diego with 5 kids is not exactly the ideal circumstance for getting out for a run. Then school started. Shayna is busy with volleyball. Zack is busy with work. It's getting dark earlier... it's just getting harder to fit it in.

This weekend I had decided that it was time to just get out and get it done. I had done a few short runs and tonight I planned to do eight miles. My hamstring had been a little sore from a water skiing incident on Saturday when I crashed and my legs went in opposite directions, forcing me to do the splits (not a natural or comfortable position for this very inflexible old lady). It wasn't giving me too much trouble though and didn't really hurt when I would walk or even run. It would just smart a bit when I would squat down.

So I went ahead and hit the pavement. Right about four miles, I was thinking to myself, "You're halfway there", and I was feeling good; the hamstring was sore, but not painful. But just at that moment, I felt a little pop and my hammy went from a little sore to OUCH! I took a few more strides to see if it would work itself out. No luck... still hurting. So I thought that maybe if I stretched it out really good, I could finish my run without too much pain. I stopped, extended my leg to stretch it, and in a matter of seconds was covered by hundreds of mosquitoes. They landed on just about every part of my body and were literally swarming around my face. My only choice was to try to outrun them. So I limp/ran while swatting away as many as I could. I managed in this manner for about another half mile.

SO... for those of you Craigites who may have seen me running along Victory Way this evening with a strange limping gait while waving my arms around me wildly, I really haven't completely lost my mind (yet)... just a little "run"- in with some pesky bugs. Just as I was approaching the Fairgrounds I felt another pop, and this time the pain was too much to even limp-run. I was forced to walk the rest of the way home which was nearly 2 miles taking the most direct route. So in my attempt to put the excuses aside, I managed to come up with a new excuse... a hamstring injury. How much time do you think that one will buy me?