Why You Should Exercise

The past few weeks, the gym and I have fallen out of touch. I attributed this to made excuses that this was because I was busy/stressed/celebrating the holidays. But, there’s this little thing called a half-marathon. And I’m running it in a mere 22 days. I basically totally ignored two weeks of my training. Will I be fine? Probably. Will I run as fast I originally wanted to? Hopefully.

Yes, I’m disappointed in myself for slacking on my training. But exercise is not (just) about training for a big race or until you reach some goal. Exercise is part of life-long health. It’s a part of your overall physical and emotional well-being.

In the past few weeks since I haven’t exercised, I’ve:

• felt sluggish
• not slept as well
• had extra anxiety (this one isn’t totally attributed to the not exercising thing)
• felt softer around the middle (see also: Christmas cookies.)
• been crankier
• craved more sweets (again, see also: Christmas cookies)
• made more excuses
• got upset easier (When I was exercising so much up until Thanksgiving, everything rolled off my back. Instead, now, it’s building up in my back.)

So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go do a quick recovery* run.

Technically, there’s not much to recover from…but I’m also loosening up my muscles for tomorrow morning. And trying to see how many layers I should wear tomorrow…