Happy Sunday!

I rarely blog on a Sunday but I wanted to stop by with a quick post as I think it’s a relevant topic for many readers.

So often, we push ourselves harder than we realize. Whether it’s through work, exercise, volunteering, or personal commitments, we find ourselves exhausted on a daily basis.

This morning, when the alarm went off at 6:30 AM Bo and I both stepped out of bed in a state of exhaustion. Our muscles hurt from seven hours of yard work yesterday which included laying sod, shoveling rocks and moving large pavers. Our eyes were heavy with sleep as the night unexpectedly didn’t end until midnight after a spontaneous grilled dinner and movie night with Russell and Meg.

Instead of forcing ourselves to get ready and head to the Upper East Side for the 8 AM New York Road Runners race, I turned off the alarm and we each slept for four more hours until the sun woke us up at 10:40. When I woke up, I was in a state of shock as I rarely sleep this late even when sick. I immediately felt a pang of guilt for missing the race we signed up for and shared with blog readers that we were doing. As I scrolled Instagram and Facebook I saw friends finishing long runs, half marathons and workouts.  Luckily, I took a step back and put things in perspective:

• The money that we paid for the race still went to a good cause.
• I’ve worked out for the past eight days straight including last Sunday’s half marathon.
• If I want a chance to run the NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon in two weeks, I need to give my hamstring a rest from running.
• Some days, spending hours in your back yard enjoying the fresh air and sunshine is more gratifying than any race or workout.
• Our bodies often know best if we can take the time to listen.

I don’t write this post to make excuses for why we slept through this morning’s race. Instead, I want to share with you all that like each of you, I am human and I rarely pause to listen to my body and I constantly over commit. This Summer, in an effort to ensure I have time to enjoy lazy Summer evenings with friends, sunny days at the beach and quality time doing the things I love, I am going to think twice before saying yes to things.

Humorously enough, I wrote a blog post similar to this almost a year ago. I guess it was time to have a little reminder today.