Wanting what I can't have

I am going to let you all in on a little secret: I have the ability to manipulate the universe.

Yes, yes, I'm sure you are all thinking that surely I jest.  But I am being completely serious. 

How does one manipulate the universe, you ask?  Here are some examples:

• I can make it rain by washing my car.
• I can make it sunny by carrying an umbrella.
• I can make it cold by not bringing a jacket.
• If I am in a hurry to get someplace, there is guaranteed to be an accident, bad traffic, or marching protesters blocking the roads.
• If I am waiting all day for a phone call, the phone is guaranteed not to ring for the X.9999 hours that I am sitting by the phone.  But it will absolutely ring during that single minute that I step away to use the bathroom.
• When I drop toast with jelly on it, the toast will always land on the jellied side.  Always.  Not to mention that the odds of me dropping my jelly toast will increase in direct proportion to the price of the carpet.  If the carpet is white, then I might as well just save myself the trouble by purposefully flinging the entire jar of jelly directly onto the floor.

Dropped toast always falls to the floor in slow motion, too.

I could keep going.  But you get the idea.

My cosmic powers have been hard at work again this week.  Usually it takes significant effort and mustered motivation for me to get myself out the door and go for a run.  This is especially true early in the morning and/or when it is cold outside. 

Once I get myself going I do feel good, and I always feel great after my run.  Getting started can be really rough for me, though.

But not this week. 

My last run was done on New Year's Eve.  After feeling ankle pain, I told myself that I would take a minimum of 10-14 days off of running to try to heal.  But the speed workout went so well that now I've been really, really itching to get out there for another run.  WHY NOW!?!?!?

To make matters worse, the temperatures were warm today by Chicago winter standards.  It felt like everywhere I looked I saw runners outside, smiling, basking blissfully in the fresh air while cavorting in their running shoes, hair blowing in the wind like it always does in those shampoo commercials. 

OK, OK, maybe I exaggerate about the hair blowing.  Regardless, I was tormented.

I was so, so tempted to just make an exception for myself and get out there for an easy run.  How many times am I so motivated to go for an outdoor run in the wintertime?  Just a few miles wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?  I was already promising myself that if I felt any pain, that I would immediately stop.  After all, how would I know how much my ankle might have progressed since last Monday if I didn't test it out, right?

Ultimately I did not go running.  I know from experience that you don't want to keep resetting the "rest" clock when trying to heal an injury.  I know that it's always better to nip any potential issues in the bud, otherwise they will only get worse.

I also know that instead of thinking in the negative, i.e. "I can't go running," that I should try to think of this positively, i.e. "This is an opportunity to cross-train."  I have been doing a lot of indoor cycling over the last few months and I dutifully did yet another bike workout today.  But it's probably no coincidence that today I got fed up with the bike and couldn't wait to be done with it.

It is obviously time to change up my cross-training routine.

I read somewhere that walking on the treadmill at a very high incline is a great low-impact substitute for running.  Sounds good to me.  I will be giving it a go very soon, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

In the meantime, look for the weather to continue being abnormally warm this week while I'm on this running hiatus.  Never fear, though.  The weather will return to normal or below-normal temps during the following weekends when I AM ready to get back on track.  I guarantee it!!!