The importance of rest days.

My life has been pretty hectic lately. I work two jobs and I'm training for my first half marathon.  It doesn't sound like much but there are times where I work 23 shifts in 22 days.  That's no days off, no breaks, but usually there is a double shift in there somewhere.  So, I've been pretty stressed out lately. Saturday night going into Sunday, i woke up at 2:30 am and got a lot of things accomplished.  I meal prepped for the upcoming week, finished making my Easter desserts and even got a 2 mile walk in.  Since I only got about two hours of sleep the night before, i took a nap before we went to Adam's parents house and another little nap at my moms house.  I was pretty exhausted from running my longest run the day before.  

Yesterday morning when I woke up, I felt like I had been hit by a bus.  I was exhausted and everything hurt on my body.  I always feel my hardest workout two day later.  This indicts that I defiantly needed to rest my body.  Yesterday, I did no workout, no running, I was going to go for a walk but I changed my mind.  I got home from work, ate dinner and took a nap, until 6 am. Apparently I was sleepy.  I slept almost 10 hours.  That rarely happens.  I got  to snuggle this little guy while I slept. 

He's obviously not the most exciting animal that you'll ever see.  

I have completely realized that actual rest days are so important.  My body feels so much better from not doing anything yesterday.  I normally feel like a lazy bum if I don't at least do laundry or take a walk, but i defiantly needed the rest.  I'm taking an rest day today again to do our second wedding registry at Target. Fun Fun! It's supposed to be 41 degrees tomorrow, so I think I'm going to go to the gym after work. I'm really excited to get back into it after having two day off. 

How many days in a row do you take to rest when you need it?