Weird Marathon Dreams and The Importance of Taking a Break

Last night I had a dream that I was running a marathon through a mall. But I got off course and when I didn’t see anyone else running I stopped and couldn’t figure out if the marathon was still going on. My watch read random miles, jumping forwards and backwards. Usually, I have these dreams closer to race day but with nothing on the docket right now, I’m wondering why I had this dream. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to get my miles back up. At any rate, very random! I’ve had running dreams where I forget my bib, where I run through houses as part of the course, etc. My brain is weird.

I’m trying to add miles slowly. I’ve dropped my mileage considerably since November. I still ran 3 or 4 days a week but the miles were low. Partly because I wasn’t training for anything and partly because my body was showing serious signs of needing a break.

I had it in my head that I would run a half marathon every month last year. Some of those would be “official” halfs but most of them would just be logging that distance every month. It didn’t go so well. Last Feb it was impossible to log a half due to frigid cold and ice. I doubled up in April. Skipped June, doubled up later. I figured because I wasn’t doing a full marathon that I could handle it. I was wrong.

Not giving my body a true off season took its toll. After the Buckeye Half Marathon, which I did at the end of October with a head cold (not so smart), my body got mad. Some nagging neck and upper back problems flared up again. Additionally, what I thought was an ear infection after the head cold turned out to be TMJ. It may not have been all because of running, but my body definitely needed a rest from long runs.

This is when I started to practice Yoga and I noticed changes almost immediately. I have been doing it 2x a week for the last 11 weeks and I can’t believe I waited so long to start. As I stated previously, I stumbled upon Yoga with Adriene and it’s been a game changer.

Anyway,
LOVING this mild weather though. This time last year, I looked like this most of the time!

On Wednesday's 50+ degree run I looked like this :)

My former life as an opera singer. From Die Zauberflote.

In other news, since this blog is called Run MEZZO Run I should probably share what has been happening on the music front. I am a classically trained singer with a Master’s in Music. I’ve sang a lot of opera in my day.  But, nowadays I prefer to sing folk, rock, etc. I haven’t performed much lately but I’m trying to get back into it. My husband and I started working on some songs over the summer and we are starting to record (at home) some of those songs. Just some fun, surfy, pop kind of songs.  Maybe I’ll post some when they are ready.

Week in workouts:

Sunday: 4 miles with my hubby

Monday: Yoga

Tuesday: 2 miles

Wednesday: 6 Miles

Thursday: Yoga

 Friday: 2 miles

Saturday: 2.5 miles

16.5 total miles. Trying to get back to 20 per week. Increasing 10% per week.

Anyone else have crazy running dreams?

Any singers out there who also love to run?

Cheers!