Rest Day.

It's been two days since I last ran and I feel my mental stability has taken a hit for it.  There are as many reasons to run as their are types of runners.  I'm sure given a poll to the population individualization would occur.  But, all answers, I'm hypothesizing (fairly quickly at that too) could be grouped into two main categories:  mental strength and physical strength.  I'm certainly on the mental side.  I run in order to keep my anxieties and hyper fixations at bay.  Without running my mind has the tendency to turn towards delusions--mostly harmless common place human neurotics.  But, if I ignore my mind for too long and don't run for extended periods of time, then these infantile delusions can become problematic in my life.    Running makes me a stronger, better person.  It allows me to organize all misplaced information in my life.

But, I can never ignore the physical side of running.  If I did, I wouldn't be able to run: duh.  With athletic training, the building and destroying of muscle, comes defined rest days.  Days when your body is allowed to rebuild without breaking down.  It's an awful paradox that as my physical side waxes, my mental state wanes.  Running is drug definitionally.  It releases compounds, neurotransmitters, in doses and levels that do not exist in a resting, or contemporarily natural, state.  Wether it's caffeine or benzodiazepines, the more you introduce your nervous system to these state altering compounds, the more your body will expect it.  Not running is a kin to withdrawal.  It's bullshit and it sucks.

The plus side of my Saturday rest day is the gluttony I allow myself.  Tomorrow, I will increase my weekly long run.  Tomorrow I will run for one hour and forty minutes, about the distance of a half marathon.  To do this strongly, my body will needs its glycogen reservers maxed out. Which means by lunch today I will need to have consumed plenty of complex carbohydrates (and really, guilt free consumption of processed ones too).  This excitement makes rest days bearable.  Tomorrow I get to do the one thing on this planet that makes me happier, freer than anything else.  I get to spend two hours (rounding up here) running, observing, existing, living.

The Lord commanded that on the seventh day we rest.  In my childhood home, this was to appreciate the love around you.  But, I am not a christian, I do not believe in creation; but I do believe in meditative observance.  So, on the Sixth day I'll amend this law to fit:  find a place for the energy, allocate addictions to positive areas, get a damn fine nights sleep, and in the morning do what you love.