Impatient

Normally, I tend to have two very distinct running modes: training and clowning. I'm either checking letsrun and flotrack 4 times a day or not paying attention to anything running related at all. If I haven't run the last 30 days in a row, I probably won't run more than 4 times a week. Cycles are good. However, things didn't quite work out this season.
These past few weeks have been an ass-blend of running, hobbling, aquajogging (without the belt of course), and quitting. I've had to take a few days off for back problems, shin pains, groin/hip issues, etc. This had all been occurring when I was definitely in good shape and finally getting ready to confront the issue of actually manning up and racing. Just trying to decide whether I could run/should run/survive the run every day simply became to stressful to deal with and decided to end things just 3 weeks before this 10k that I've been so excited about. I wouldn't really even call things an ending after taking a day off, then reaching the culmination of almost 4 months of solid training with a 3 mile jog.
Ok, that's the bitching and pity-grubbing part of the post. For me this has kind of been a good experience. It's important to know exactly what your body can handle. In high school and college I could just take a few weeks off, then do a 12 mile run, take a week off, do 800s on the track, take a week off, then race, and never get hurt. But now I know exactly where in my training I need to be smart and not let pride take over. Even though I didn't race and didn't do anything terribly impressive this cycle, it's been the most enjoyable since running with the club in Berkeley. Having a couple people to run/do workouts with had me excited for running, rather than dreading my run until 2 in the morning and then trudging through 10 miles on the track because I have to.
This weekend I'm going home and my brother will talk trash to me until I break him on a run, so I'm looking forward to that being a positive start to my training again. While Nathan has his set goals and schedule for obtaining results via strict discipline (which I'm sure he will handle and it will pay off for him, as his running has been skyrocketing this past year), I think that I will take a different approach this summer. I need to find my control via moderation. Taking a day off once a month isn't going to kill me, but neither is going a little too hard the day before a workout because I'm feeling good and want to hammer. So, I'm looking forward to a great summer of fun, quality mileage; I've got to try to get back to those raw pleasures of running that Lindsay is searching for, Tye-style: shirtless, sunglasses, cruising with some friends, making fun of joggers, eating donuts on the run, and of course, exploring new trails (and by trails I mean traffic-filled roads).