Day 112: I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up

After my failed attempt at an 18 mile run, I was extremely depressed, but also determined to make the most of the following day and try it again. It was crunch time, and this was what I predicted might happen. I would treat this whole "marathon training" thing like everything else in my life - a big joke. Well, that is, until it was time to take it seriously, at which point I would work my ass off to make up for lost time. This had worked on my biology regents exam in the 10th grade, so I saw no discernible reason why it shouldn't work in this situation.

I was sure that I would wake up in the morning and my allergies would have relinquished their death grip on me and this long run would finally be done and I'd be sure of my ability to run this marathon, save the princess from the clutches of King Koopa and remain in the running to be America's Next Top Model.



Read more!


Day 111: Running on Empty

I've never gotten my ass kicked, but I'm pretty sure it would feel slightly like what that bout of Strep Throat did to me. It kept me down and more than out for over a week. I didn't go to work, I barely left the house, and my couch is now even more permanently indented with my ass imprint. It was a rough week, but by the end of the following week, and with a scant three (hyperventilation) weeks until the marathon, I knew that I had to get back out there.

It had been about a month since my last long run, and it was only 16 miles. The glow of that glory had faded, like a former prom queen after one too many drinks and one too many kids. I was starting to panic. I only realized now, in this moment (part of the problem?), how important these long runs were. Besides physically getting me ready for the marathon, they would get me mentally prepared with that kind of distance. I wasn't in the kind of shape where I could just assume that the adrenaline of marathon day would push me through all 26.2 miles - I needed to know that I could go further than 16 miles. And I preferred to do that before the marathon, not on a gurney at the marathon.


Read more!


Day 102: Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Doctor

You may not know this about me, but I'm prone to ailments. I know, in reading this blog, you might see me as some kind of hypochondriac or alarmist, but really I am not. I don't go to the doctor assuming that every pump is a legion or every blood test is going to come back positive for something negative. It's more that, I've devoted so much time and effort into this marathon training, and I want it so bad, that I'm convinced something is bound to go wrong.

Interestingly enough, considering that I'm good for at least three bouts of some kind of infection a year, I didn't really think that that something could possibly a sickness. I realized how wrong I was when I woke up with a nice 102 fever. This didn't really concern me, I have a tendency to raise high fevers, even as an adult (last year the night before our office holiday party I raised a 104 fever - just for funsies). However, my throat was hurting something fierce, and I realized that I had been ignoring it for a few days, chalking it up to lingering allergies. Yes, I found it odd that when I looked at my throat in the mirror, there were innumerable, visible white spots all over it, but I thought it would run its course. It had to... because I had a course of my own... to run. Words are so fun! You know what's not? Strep Throat.


Read more!