Love: A Timely Post

I 'slept in' this morning in a haze that was last evening's moonshine.  I experimented with a few alcohols to make The Dirty Shirley.  Whew, that beverage hit me hard, as evident of my passed out body splayed in the corner of the couch.  I almost used Shirley as an excuse for not running today; it would have been an easy sell considering I couldn't hit the road with my Crazies.  I, instead, did the exact opposite.  I put on a DVD for the girls and bundled up to make the trek into the dungeon.  My podcasts were queued up; I hit the belt with an easy pace.  Immediately, in typical fashion, I started talking myself down from the intended mileage.  "Eight?  Wow, I definitely can't do eight.  Maybe I'll do five.  Yea, five sounds great."

As I closed in on mile 5, the second podcast kicked off with its Valentine theme.  The podcast hosts, Dimity and Sarah of Another Mother Runner, interviewed Denise Dollar who founded Heart Strides.  My mind started to wander into the concrete blocks just ahead of me as I thought of the women that Heart Strides helped.  I shifted my focus to all women, then all people who might need a life time out to take care of themselves.  Oftentimes, we can put so much energy into someone, maybe a sick child, or into something, such as our jobs, that we lose sight of pouring energy into ourselves.  Balance is not easy to find; it is not easy to maintain, but when we're balanced our energies are put to better use.  

So, today, on this Valentine's Day - don't forget to be kind to yourself.