On the Run: Going with the Flow

I've mentioned before that 2019 was originally supposed to be the year of my first half marathon. But ah, life--how often it has other plans for us instead.

Now that my injury/ongoing issues with my hip/shoulder/back are (mostly) under control, I've been settling back into my fitness routine. This mainly includes doing yoga every (or almost every) morning and going for a run every other day. For the past year and a half, I've pretty much always been following a training plan for one race or another. But, since my half marathon plans fell through and my next race isn't until September, I'm in an in-between, a lull.

It feels weird. I'm so much better about running consistently when I have a schedule, a plan, to stick to. Yet, I think it's important to take a little time to remember why I fell in love with running in the first place, let my body call the shots for a little while. 

So, I've been running again, usually for about 30 minutes three times a week. It's slow going--per usual, I lost a lot of fitness during my mandatory rest period, and I'm back to my slowest pace. I'm a turtle runner. Always have been, probably always will be. But it feels good to be able to run again, at all. 

Plus, there are other perks to not having a strict schedule to adhere to. Perks such as being able to go to Zumba in the local park without worrying about throwing off my training, for instance. This past Sunday, my roommate and I hit up a local drop-in Zumba class, and let me tell you, it kicked my butt! My regularly scheduled Monday run was a goner when I woke up and felt just how sore my body was--in a good way!

A few years ago, I started going to a Zumba class in Cincinnati with a few coworkers/friends. The instructors were super high energy and really fun--they created fast-paced routines to current pop songs, and I loved going. Then, unexpectedly, they moved to China. It was a great opportunity for them, but I felt deeply bereft and have never found another Zumba class I liked half as well. For a long while, in spite of how much I love Zumba, I gave up trying.

Cue Open Streets Pittsburgh, a summer extravaganza where they close the streets of a particular neighborhood for a few hours to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to take over the show! There are free fitness classes basically every hour, and it's a ton of fun. It was here that Mel & I discovered the local drop in class--several different local instructors took turns instructing the class, so we got a taste of their different teaching styles! 

While it's still different from Kim & Tim of my Cincinnati days, it's exciting to get back to cardio dance classes every once and a while as a fun way to break up the routine of yoga, run, repeat. (Did I mention I'm also back to fitting in a little Blogilates/Pop Pilates for my arms? Because that's also a thing.)

Come July 1st, I'll start a new round of training--this time for Pittsburgh's Great Race 10K. This is another comeback race for me, since last year I got a terrible cold right beforehand and decided to drop down to the 5K distance (which I ended up running at PR pace--go figure!). I'm nervous and excited to be training for a race again, especially since this will be the first race my boyfriend and I run together. Here's hoping that things go a bit more according to plan this time around--or at least that I wind up at the starting line this time around!