Today I ran

...because I woke up and felt like it!  I know - such a simple thing.  Why would you do something if you don't want to.  It's not that for the past six years I've swam and rode and ran because I didn't want to....but I did those things mainly because I had to in order to achieve the goal I set out to achieve.  Well this morning, I woke up and I felt like running so I ran.  An easy 30 minute cruise down the street to the ocean and back.  But it was awesome. I listened to the birds.  I listened to the morning traffic. I listened to myself breathe. I don't know how fast I was running or how far I went and I don't care. I didn't log it in Training Peaks or any other training log. I just enjoyed the moment.

I remember when I first moved to San Diego (1 year ago this week), I was having a bit of a crisis.  I struggled a bit with being in a new place, finding my way around, working in a new job environment.  All of the typical things a person would feel when picking up and moving across the country by themselves.  Reflecting back, I was also going through a bit of depression and god knows what else and I made things more dramatic than they needed to be. I was dealing with nagging injuries and couldn't fully do the one thing that was my safe-ground which was train.

I've come a long way in the past year. With the help of some truly amazing people I've gone through some self discovery and acceptance. I'm learning to stop judging people and myself and just be aware. I'm learning what makes me happy, what my strengths and weaknesses are and that I'm not perfect and that's ok. My screen shot on my phone says, "I forgive myself. I don't get to be more perfect than anyone else. I am human".  I have a more positive outlook on life, what I want to do, who fits in my life, who doesn't. I'm excited for the future and new experiences. And running because I want to...not because I have to.

Cheers!