This weekend I just wasn't in the mood to run, so I didn't.

I spent a lot of time relaxing, hanging out with my mom who was in town and spending some time with friends, and not once did I feel guilty about not running.

This mental break from such rigorous training has been good for me.

It's nice to wake up on Saturday morning and decided if I really want to spend my morning doing a long run or if I'd rather get some sleep or spend my time doing something else. It's nice to not feel like I absolutely have to get up and run and then feeling horribly guilty if I don't.

I've run once since the Frederick half, last Wednesday when I really felt in the mood to go, and the run ended up being fun. That's what I'm trying to get back, a little bit of the fun I used to have with running.

Right now I need running to be a fun thing that I do and not stressful thing that I do because I want to be able to focus my mental energy elsewhere.

Eventually I know I'll want to get back into hardcore training, but that time will come and I'm not going to rush it and I'm not going to feel guilty about not running.