I finished summer school on Friday afternoon, not one minute too soon. I hadn't realized how tired out I was until I tried to run a nine-miler yesterday morning. To say the least, it didn't go well. I got about 2.5 miles in and just knew something was wrong. I was nauseated, dizzy, and more fatigued than I was at the end of last week's 8-mile run. My legs felt leaden. And to top it off, I was 2.5 miles from my parents' house, where I'd dropped my dog and started my run. So I turned around and trudged back. I don't normally nap much because it messes up my sleep pattern, but after I sat for a while, catching my breath and cooling down, I felt like I'd been drugged, so I went and lay down. Almost two hours later, I awake from one of the deepest, longest naps I've ever had. It was one of those naps you used to have as a kid where you wake up and aren't sure where you are or even whether it's the next day or not. The kind where you sit up and you're bleary eyed for five minutes. The kind I probably haven't had since I was in my early thirties and I'm fifty. As I said, the reason I don't nap is that I usually can't sleep that night. Well, that wasn't the case last night. I went to the grocery store (because I had to), then home and tried to do some stuff around my house, but still, even after an extreme nap, felt like I was walking through waist-deep mud. I couldn't even gather the energy to read for very long because I kept nodding off, so I gave up and decided to crash in front of the TV for the evening. I barely moved other than to do what I had to--feed my dog Baili and take her out, go to the bathroom, get something to eat or drink--until bedtime. I figured I wouldn't be able to sleep well, but I went to bed a little after ten anyway because I was just still so tired.
Flash forward to a little after eight this morning. Almost a two hour nap, almost nine hours of sleep overnight, and yet I still feel tired and even a little achy. Tired enough that I decided not to go to church, something I just don't like to miss. In all seriousness, if I don't feel better by tomorrow, I may need to see a doctor. But what I hope is true is that, between getting up early every morning since spring break ended in March and exercising (running and lifting weights) more than I have in a long, long time in the hopes of being ready to run in the half marathon in August, I've just been burning the candle at both ends. Add to that my church softball team, which seems to chronically have just barely enough people to play and the fact that it's rained more than any summer in a long time, causing my yard to continue to grow well into the summer when it's usually brown and dry by now, and I have just overextended myself.
So I'm turning off my alarm for a few days. I'm going to bed at night and sleeping until I wake up. And if I want to nap, I'm going to. I'll go for walks, but I'm also taking a week off from the running and lifting. As big as I am, my knees and back just need a break. I'll still do some work around the house, but, for this first week of my almost-three-week break, I'm keeping it light. I'll catch up on the reading I've wanted to do (books I want to read, not need to read) and do some writing, but I'm not going to put myself on a word schedule like I usually do. Next week, it's back to normal, but this week is stay-cation time.
If you'll excuse me, I think I'll have some lunch and maybe take a little nap.
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