Inspiration-less

I’ve been hit with a major inspiration-less case of the blahs.  I feel like I say that WAY too often.  Blah.

I did Couch to 5K Week 4 Day 1 this morning and it felt awesome…I can definitely tell that my lungs need more strength, but my body doesn’t feel like it’s struggling as much as it did when I started back in the fall.  Plus (knock on wood), my shins aren’t hurting as much this time around.  They’re a little tight, but I’m stretching them a lot to try to prevent shin splints.  Also, I can tell my form has changed significantly since the first time I started C25K; I had a feeling that the way I was “pushing off” with my back foot was contributing to my shin splints, and I’m definitely improving on that this time.  For you runners out there – have you ever had to change your form and seen an improvement as a result?

I was a little nervous to run this morning because my hamstrings are still hurting from this weekend.  We had another work day at the lakehouse on Saturday, and the waterfront went from this:

Before rocks

to this:

After rocks

Several of us transported all these rocks…

Pile o' rocks

…along this narrow path with a rusted-out wheelbarrow….

Narrow path

I pulled a back muscle (due to moving rocks in awkward positions) and smashed a finger, but thankfully I never slipped and fell (which was my worst fear).  It’s a sign of good form that my hamstrings are so sore – it shows I was lifting with my legs!  So yeah, I’m still hobbling around and was nervous to run, but my legs are sorest when I’ve been sitting still, not when I’m moving.

God, I’m putting myself to sleep with this drivel.

To redeem myself, here is my absolute favorite sugar cookie recipe of all time, and here are some foodpornalicious pictures of it (I made them for an event I did not attend, and I only ate two while prepping them – w00t!):

Sugar cookies

I dip the mounds in sugar before baking – the effect is much prettier if you use colored sugar!

Sugar cookies

Let’s all hope I find some blogging inspiration soon…