I’ve had a couple people mention how little I ran in May and it’s true: I ran less than 90 miles this month (which isn’t much for me).

In April I did  4 marathons, a 41 mile ultra relay (you can read about the races here) and ran over 300 miles in a month for the first time.

So I knew it’d be prudent to take this month a little easy and when the blog crapped out for about 10 days, I took it as a sign to take some rest.

The ironic thing is that as soon as I started not running, my left hip/piriformis area started aching a bit – I took that as a sign to take more time off. 

So I did.  I kept working out, taking a few new exercise classes, walking my dog, trying to be active in different ways.  Surprisingly, I didn’t die like I thought I would. 

These are the things that I learned while taking some time off: 

{These are my thoughts so don’t get all butthurt if you don’t think the same way}

1. Running isn’t that important

Running is just a part of life, not life itself.  Regardless of whether you run, the stuff that’s really important is still really important.  You still have the same struggles, the same heartbreak and the same joys. 

There might come a day when you physically can’t run because of pregnancy, injury or tragedy, but you’re no less or no more of a person for it.  Running doesn’t define me; it’s just something I do.

And in the end, life just goes on.

2. Running is something I really love

When I don’t run, I miss running.  hard.  There isn’t another workout out there that gives me the same “high”, that sense of accomplishment and pride, that “Man, I feel good” feeling.

I love a pointless slow 7 junk miler or a hard 26.2 PR attempt, I love it all.  I just want to run and hope I can run for the rest of my life.  I certainly won’t keep up the 4 marathons a month pace forever, but I’ll be content running any pace for the long haul (life).

Some other less Let’s get all philosophical with life points…

3. You won’t (necessarily) gain weight while taking a running break

You might have to pay a little more attention to what you’re eating: running is a very efficient exercise and a big calorie burner so when you switch to another exercise, you might not burn as much and need to readjust your intake. 

Remember when Lance Armstrong said that one hour of running was equivalent to 2 hours of biking?  Same thing applies: that 60 minutes on the elliptical isn’t going to burn as much as 60 minutes of running.

^{Lance and Matt going for a shirts optional run.}

4. Do something, anything active

The worst feeling is not running and then sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and like a lazy blob.  Do another workout; try something new, get uncomfortable, just do something to work your body and get the endorphins going.  Ditch the “All or Nothing” attitude (If I can’t run, I’m not doing anything because nothing’s as good as running!) and do what you can.

5. If you want to tone up, lift some weights

It kills me to say this because I hate strength training, but I’m starting to think that the experts are onto something when they say to lift weights.  I’m no expert and have only taken a couple classes, but I feel like it helps strengthen you in a way running can’t.  Blasphemy, I know.

^{My superlame attempt at showing my non-existent muscles}

That’s all the points I have for now… brain hurts… must go watch trashy TV…

Any lessons/takeaways you learned from taking a running break?

LINK LOVE

**It seems like a lot of people are either I FRIGGIN LOVE CROSSFIT!!!!!!! or No thanks, not for me, but if you’re on the fence about it, Sierra has a great post about some Crossfit myths.

**If you be working hard for your summer beach body, Fitnessista has a post about 20 moves to do a stability ball; I bookmarked it.

**Beth has a good post on how to deal with an injury like a man instead of whiner.

**If you read the sports bra fitting post and need a new one, today is the LAST day you can use this coupon for 10% off and 20% off for VIP members.

Coupon Code: CX12B216

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