I have one week left of my 6 month run challenge and it couldn’t be more fitting for this fabulous Friday to share that I finally – finally – feel as though I ran *all* happy miles this week. Every. single. run. Awesome. Each in different ways. I’ve come to realize that this run challenge has come down to exactly that: happy running. notsomuch about miles. notsomuch about getting back to thinking about running another half marathon.

Nope.

Just. Running. Happy.

I’m writing this after one of my best runs in quite awhile. With M by my side. And this was even after teaching a 6 am barre n9ne class (back-to-back with teaching two classes yesterday, too).

The difference? I told myself I would ‘do’ as little as possible in class (save for upper body and ab work) and it worked out so well because a) I had a bigger than usual morning class so there was naturally more opportunity to walk around and correct and b) I am learning more and more my stride for teaching smaller classes where I ‘do’ bits and pieces but focus more on form corrections and motivation.

So, while I taught 5 classes this week, I strategically planned my runs to either not follow directly after teaching or taking a barre n9ne class, or on an ‘off’ day completely from barre n9ne. And it worked. Finally. It worked.

Sunday, I ran with M (about 4 miles) before I taught at 10 am. Tuesday, I ran 6 killer miles of intervals. And rocked them. Wednesday, I took b9 fusion class in the morning and met bestie Steph for a quick and speedy 3.6 miler by a nearby lake. Humid. But awesome. And today, 5ish (5.4 maybe??) miles with M where my legs didn’t feel heavy, even though it was my last run of the week and I expected them to feel a little lead-like at first. Nope. Felt strong, yet light.

This week I ran happy miles. And as I look to next week, where I set out for Costa Mesa bright and early on Monday morning (coming home Thursday night), I am confident and even a little excited to finally get a chance to run outside before work a few days next week. It’s going to be awesome. (did I just say that?!)

Happy weekend, friends. do something happy, will ya? I sure as hell plan to do the same