So I had to make a hard decision this past weekend: To run or not to run a half-marathon in three weeks. The bottom line: I am injured. There is no way I will be able to safely train to the extent that I need to in order to be ready for the half-marathon on January 15th. All of my closest family and friends (including my husband and my Mom) and my coach agree that I have made the right decision. I feel a lot better about the whole situation now than I did yesterday. I want running to be fun and stress-free; not painful and stressful. I will be the queen of 5K’s for awhile before I start training for another half. It could be months! I just want to take it slowly and build my body up gradually according to its preferred pace. I also miss hiking so much! I am allowing my body to rest this week, heating and icing, and doing some strengthening exercises for my knee, and stretching out my IT bands. I’m planning on some hikes with no running involved, as well, if I can do it without pain. I would like to post more blogs about my everyday hiking and running starting very soon! Thanks so much for checking out my blog, and I hope to bring even more to you this new year :-). Happy Trails! ~Stacey

Love my 5K’s!!