Being a shift worker has been my biggest challenge during Team Myles training. My co workers were incredibly supportive and helped me out by doing shift switches with me so that I would have the days off that I needed in order to get to most Thursday hills and Sunday long runs, however, that meant I no longer had the super relaxing shift rotation of four 12 hour shifts, followed by five days off. Instead shifts were tagged onto the end of my sets, in the middle of my days off, you name it. I really didn’t consider how much cutting up my days off was really going to effect me. It really started to take a toll and I was starting to feel constantly tired and pulled in so many directions. It resulted in me missing more group runs than I had planned on, which was really discouraging. Even though I have been doing any missed long runs on my own, it still felt like a kind of failure for not being able to make it with the team. Then this last week I’ve been suffering from a terrible head cold which made me feel even worse, but I got my butt to hills on Thursday even though that was the last thing my lungs wanted after a day off coughing. Thursday was difficult, partially due to not being as active this week due to my cold and partially because it was just physically harder to breathe with a stuffed up nose and cough, but as always the activity ended up making me feel a lot better and I even felt fairly accomplished for pushing through when I didn’t feel like it. And of course Team Myles was ever supportive and encouraging, which is a mood booster in itself! Last week and this week a few of the ladies brought their little kiddies along to hill night, which was super fun. It was really cool to see the little ones seem to get excited about the idea of running and physical activity. They are lucky to have such influential mothers and grandmas! 
This month I also met with Amanda at Lifemark to discuss my nutritional needs which I was super excited about. My relationship with food has always been an unhealthy one and I’m excited to continue to meet with Amanda and to learn about my body’s nutritional needs and how to better take care of my myself both in mind and body!
Looking forward to May, I didn’t have to make too many shift switches to meet with Team Myles so I should be able to get the rest I need between shifts and should start to feel a little more organized.
