Day 4,360—Recovering—

 

    At one point in my life, the weekend would be a break, but with kids, it is not that simple. My breaks mainly involve the kids on screens or taking a bath. I played with Legos with them this morning before taking a bath and going for a run. I am trying to whisper when I talk right now, but it doesn’t take much for me to speak louder and strain my voice. Besides my voice, my head does feel off. I am congested, but I am also just not functioning normally. When I went out to run, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to do. I figured at least 10, but I didn’t want to strain myself, so I set out to keep my pace at 10-minute miles. I slightly picked up the pace for the last three miles in the first hour, but then I went back to closer to 10 for the remainder of the run. Besides not feeling great, I was also cold.

        At first, I was going to run through Webster on Lockwood, but I decided to run on the trail by the river instead of Grant’s trail. I took that into Webster. Originally, I was going to go to Brentwood Park, but I decided I needed to head home and get something to drink, so I went to a place to buy a fountain drink after about 12 miles. The guy working there I have talked with before. I used the gas station he works at as a regular spot, maybe a couple of years ago. Not everything was blooming outside, but there was a lot of powerful spring smells from flowers and plants. I am always amazed at how well my nose works when I am congested, but I try to breathe through my nose for most runs, so I will sometimes smell things I wouldn’t normally notice. When I went by Syberg’s, I could smell the wing sauce they use. It has been such a long time since I had it, but I could place the smell instantly.

        My whole goal now is to just somehow feel better by Monday. Since I have been home, I have had a gallon of water. I think I will have more of a voice soon if I somehow manage not to talk above a whisper for the next couple of days at least, but I just don’t know how practical that is going to be at work, since talking is one of the main things I do. I felt like people noticed on Friday that my voice was cracking, but now it's not cracking as much; it just doesn’t feel normal. I can tell how it hurts when I get louder, so I am just trying to pay attention and avoid making this situation worse. I don’t know what I will run tomorrow. I still would like to get close to 50 miles for the week. Next weekend is the week before the marathon, and I can still do a decent long day then, it won’t be like I have done before, but I need to calm down. I can start getting into more training for the next 100 at the end of April. I can actually afford to take it easy for the next couple of weeks, but it just isn’t easy, and I want to keep my weekly mileage at a decent level so it doesn't make a huge difference in my monthly mileage. At the same time, my physical body does seem to be operating closer to 50 percent, but I think for me, I can do a lot on 50 percent, and that’s not the point. The point is trying to recover, which means doing less and eating and drinking more. I cannot believe the Thunder Kiss was only two weeks ago! It feels so much longer. I am already thinking about the Mohican, and I haven’t even recovered from this one yet.