False Start

As I write this, I haven’t run since Wednesday and I’m still struggling with pain in my ribs from last month’s chest cold. I thought, last week, that I’d have the chance to do some easy running while I waited for everything to heal, but that didn’t pan out.

I’m officially starting to freak out about the loss of fitness. Most of my October went up in smoke thanks to my illness and the injury that followed. It feels so stupid calling it an injury. I was running 50+ miles a week and hurt myself coughing too hard? Make it make sense!

But here I am. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to be such a diminished version of myself, as my wife recovers from several trips under the knife at the dermatologist, our son continues to need the full love and support that any nine-month-old demands, and we both still have to go to work and keep our house in order.

Mischief abounds in our house, as does separation anxiety, as do dirty dishes. Thankfully, Advil is in equally ample supply, but we’ve got our work cut out for us. My BQ is the last thing I should worry about this week, but I know I’ll make time for it (I’m blogging about it). I’m not one to miss out on a good worry.

Sunday: 8 miles, uncomfortable but OK. I really thought I could start building again from here. I was wrong, but I didn’t know it yet.

Monday: 4 miles, cranky and sore. Tried to do strides after, but the huffing and puffing between reps was painful so I stopped.

Tuesday: 4 miles, still sore. The rest of the day felt bad; I thought about taking a day off on Wednesday, but I didn’t want to give up just yet.

Wednesday: 3 miles, and felt awful the entire way. Should’ve trusted my gut.

Thursday: Struggled to sit up in bed without pain, no run.

Friday: See Thursday.

Saturday: See Friday.

This Week: 19 ill-advised miles. I felt worse at the end of this week than the beginning, with awful tightness and spasms in the morning that would make it hard to start each day, let alone run.

I’m really worried now about how long it will take to feel better. I can’t afford to put up numbers like this forever. I worked so hard to get back to marathon mileage this year, and I don’t want to lose that progress. I’m not even where I want to be yet to start my block for Jersey City.

Baby: My son is healthy as ever and unbothered. He is crawling very quickly now and intent on exploring our house. My wife and I are constantly learning what needs to be baby-proofed, and it turns out it’s almost everything. This guy is an Energizer bunny who hates naps. We’re lucky just to keep up.

We took him trick-or-treating on Halloween, even though he can’t eat sweets yet. He had fun grabbing candy at each stop, and I had fun holding him while he did it. I play a similar game around our house and I call it the crane game. It’s a hit with everyone except sometimes my wife, who doesn’t like seeing spices disappear off the counter!  (We put them back.)

The three of us ended up with an invitation to a neighbor’s house for their kids’ Halloween party, which was really kind of them and a great way to meet people from our block. Our son was a little awestruck by all the middle schoolers watching his every move, but everyone had a nice time! My wife and I got a preview of what our Halloweens could be like as our son grows up here, and we liked what we saw.

We also saw a lot of friends last weekend and this weekend, including their young kids who were so excited to play with our baby boy. He was chasing after the big kids every chance he got! He’ll be one of them before we know it.