Big congratulations to my wife, Kelcey, for an amazing weekend. One that she thought would never happen again.
You see, Kelcey was has been a passionate runner for 17 years. It was the best way she knew to deal with stress, see interesting places, and along the way, make amazing friends.
She has run countless marathons across the country, and world, including Boston 7 times. She is a runner.
This is up until a year ago when her body just shut down. She noticed her running friends starting to pull ahead. She couldn't speed up. Her mind couldn't convince her feet to go faster. Her muscles ached and her spirit dampened. Besides her family, running was everything to her and it was becoming a burden. What was once a source of stress relief was becoming a major source of stress.
She was so sad. Sad that such a fulfilling aspect of her life was behind her. At least that's what we thought.
We needed to know what was happening to her body. At first, we needed to know it wasn't serious. These kind of symptoms make you think the worst, and the Internet did not ease our minds. But, as far as doctors could tell, there wasn't anything wrong. So she tried everything from chiropractors to massage therapists. Nothing was working. Nobody could figure out what was going on.
That's until she read a book the effects of over-training. Many die-hard runners laugh that off, but I'm here to tell you that it's real. It's real, and good news, there's a solution.
First, Kelcey started sleeping more. I'm talking a full 7 to 8 hours a night (as much as she could throughout the week) which is not easy with two working parents and three kids under 10 (including a toddler!).
Second, she started strength training and incorporating Yoga into her life. Yoga, especially, has been an eye opener.
Third, and most important, she SLOWED DOWN. There's a formula that's gaining popularity in the running world where your heart should be beating no faster than 180 minus your age while you run. That seems too slow for die-hards, but Kelcey stuck to it.
Sleep + Yoga + SLOWING DOWN = results.
This past weekend she took FIRST PLACE in her age-group, and 9th overall for woman in a half marathon! This was her best run in over a year, and she gives full credit to easing back on the gas pedal.
And I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see her bright smile come after a Sunday morning run.