dear legs.

Dear legs:

We've had a good run. We crawled, we walked, we ran. We rode bikes. We danced. We played soccer (albeit not well - we might be the only kid who vividly remembers being made fun of for how slow we were). We swam. A lot. We might not have been the best kicker but that's what distance freestyle is for. We marched in a band. We went on trips and climbed sand dunes and jumped rope and all those good things.

We've been through a lot, and mostly in the past year our time has been spent trying to run. We have overcome a nasty set of shin splints. We ran our first 5k. We ran a 10k (on really not enough practice). We even finished a half marathon.

I'm not sure what happened, legs, but lately, we haven't been on good terms. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I haven't been treating you so right lately. This (my inspiration for this note) made me think that's probably true. We don't foam roll like we should. We don't ice every day. We don't sleep enough. I thought taking nearly a week off after that 5k last weekend would help, but today we only logged 10 minutes.

Last year I liked running. There was that carrot dangling in front of us (that half marathon) and we made it there. Now with a 10-miler on the horizon, we're in an epic war. I haven't liked running like I should. I haven't been inspired to do it. I haven't wanted to throw on my shoes and hit the treadmill or the trail near here. When it's hard to walk down the stairs, running doesn't seem all that appealing.

So legs, maybe we need to take a break. Maybe we need to do some yoga and ride our bikes and take it easy and enjoy ourselves. Maybe we won't train for that 10-miler after all. Maybe we'll do short runs, just for fun, just because we can. Because it's fun. Not to prove anything to anyone else.

You see, legs, we don't have to prove anything to anyone. We have to do things we like to do so we enjoy ourselves. We don't have to prove a damn thing. We have to be healthy. We have to feel good. We have to be happy.

I want to run. I do. But right now, it's just not working out. We're going to be on a break. And if things look promising later on, we'll get back together - for a trial run - and see how it goes.

But for now, I'm gonna give you a break, and drink a beer.