When I'm not running, I'm not feeling inclined to post. In fact, I
wasn't even inclined to read many bloops last week. I ran an impromptu
half-marathon last Sunday on the Greenway before work and had a
full-blown case of strep throat by midday Monday. I writhed and whined
and complained for 2 days with a fever hovering around 103*. By
Thursday evening, I was able to get some food down without it being
super painful and Friday I was starting to feel back to normal.
Today,
I knew I wanted to get back to running. I am not one to be overly
cautious about my health, but since I came down with the flu 24 hours
after my March marathon and this strep business happened right after
this random half, methinks I need to play it safe. We all know that I'm
not a crazy health food nut, but I do try to eat right 75% of the
time--my kale smoothies, tons of fruits/veggies throughout the day, and
mostly home-cooked meals have to contribute to something. I get plenty
of sleep. I get plenty of exercise (more running, less other stuff, but
whatevs). I'm in a happy relationship. I'm financially stable. My work
is generally not terribly stressful. So I'm not sure what is going on
with all this illness. In the past 10 years, I normally just get a cold
for a couple of days once a year. Hopefully it's just flukey and I
won't have Ebola next month.
I ran tonight though. It
was a strange run, but overall pretty good coming off 5 days of
illness. I told myself to start out slow and just figure out how far I
wanted to go based on how I felt. But as I hit the 2 mile mark, I knew I
was going to do my standard 7 miler and was hovering around 7:50 mm.
Way too fast to be comfortable, but I was so happy that I was running
again. I used the facilities at the turnaround point and then headed
back. Somewhere near the 5 mile mark, my Garmin completely died. In a
way, I was kind of glad because I would have no idea how fast I was
going. I could just run the last 2 miles at whatever pace I deemed to
be comfortable. It was getting to be twilight so I kept it closer to a
tempo pace. No one was on the Greenway so I just ran right in the
middle like I owned the joint! It felt good to know that 5 days off and
I was no worse for the wear.
I dipped below 100 in my
monthly mileage in March; I likely will in April as well. Nearly a week
without running will do that. I am not currently training for
anything, but I hope to enjoy at least a few cool mornings in May by
doing some long runs. And, of course, I hope to get back over the 100
mile mark. I'm not obsessed with my numbers in the sense that I need to
hit the mark all the time, I just use it as a good gauge of my own
fitness. So, I am saying 'ta-ta' to these sub-100 months and 'hello' to
May!
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