I’m going to consider this week a pre-training week. I used up my excuses, and now I need to get serious about my half-marathon training. I don’t believe I have lost the fitness from marathon training, but I want to ease back into my mileage after a month of inconsistent running.
Monday: 3.5-mile group run followed by dinner with my fellow runners. I met some new friends and made plans to run more.
Tuesday: Work was stressful — I was glued to my laptop. I managed to pull away to run a quick mile around the block to burn off my frustration.
Wednesday: National Running Day! I ran about 2.5 miles, though my location was turned off on my phone so this is just an estimate. I had planned to run 3.
Thursday: Yoga at home. I started the day with Yoga International’s Backbends, Handstands, and More: AM Express Practice class. I liked the teacher’s instructions for practicing handstand at the wall, namely not moving your feet off the wall unless you can lift both off at the same time by engaging your lower belly muscles. I liked that the class involved practicing handstand and forearm balance for a full minute each. I find that often in class these poses aren’t practiced for that long, so I appreciated the extra time spent on them.
Friday: Yoga class at the studio. Again, we held high lunges and Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1) for what had to be 15 breaths. the instructor likes to lead us into the pose, walk around the room, adjust two people, and then cue us to keep breathing before we can move out of the pose. By the end of it I am losing my breath and my legs are shaking. The next day I noticed my side body and hips were sore.
Saturday: No exercise, but I walked more than 13,000 steps around Shedd Aquarium. I regretted skipping a run that morning after a night out.
Sunday: Yoga at home and run 2.2 miles, doing some speedwork at a track.
Week’s mileage: 9.2.
June mileage so far: 9.2 miles so far.

Marette Flora is the founder of Floradise blog and personalized gift shop. Marette is a passionate storyteller and creator. She attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.
She is passionate about creating helpful and meaningful things.