I was finally—barely—well enough to run a little this week. While I may be back towards the sniffles side of the sickness spectrum, I’ve taken a lot of damage already that I’m still recovering from.
The muscles in my ribs have clearly been strained from coughing so hard and so often for over ten days; it hurts to take a deep breath, or to lift my child, or (especially) to cough, which I am still doing on occasion. Baby germs do not mess around. I haven’t been this sick in years.
My wife is maybe less ill than I am, but made up for it with some stitches courtesy of the dermatologist. Her physical activity—like lifting our son—will be limited for a time. We have been quite the pair! The phrase “my other half” has rarely been so accurate; together we are worth about one functional adult.
Our son is doing great, which is great, except handling an energetic infant in our condition has been a challenge. We simply cannot get well soon enough.
I have had to wrestle a lot this week with the anxiety of missing training time. Of course, there’s nothing you can do if you’re too sick to run, and until Thursday I was, but it’s hard not to think about the big goals I’ve set for myself and how they might be impacted while I’m laid up. I was just running 60 miles a week! What’s going to be left of me? Will it be enough?
I got a glimpse at an answer on Thursday (2 miles with my son in the stroller) and Friday (4 miles solo). My legs, as suspected, feel fresh and strong after some time off. I also feel a little clumsy, but I think I have the strength to get back to my target mileage soon.
The real question is whether I have the lungs to get back to my target paces before Thanksgiving, when I’ll be racing a half marathon. I don’t want a repeat of Mercer County, where I ran really poorly after a week of illness and fatigue, but it certainly looks set up that way right now.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot I can do about it. I can only listen to my body, take care of it, and hope it feels better soon.
I can also remind myself of all of that, and try not to despair. Jersey City is still almost six months away. I’ve come a really long way in the last six months, and the last several years, and I know I can keep going once I’m through this rough patch.
I tried a “long” run on Sunday, about 8 miles. It was uncomfortable, but doable, though my ribs are sore today. I honestly felt better while running than I did before or after. Is that The Secret? Just don’t stop running? I’ll survive on Advil and endorphins?
In the interest of not taking too much time off, that might just be my plan. Easy miles and supportive care until I can breathe pain-free. As always, we’ll see what happens.
theDNF 
Leave a comment