Waiting it Out

 

That is totally how I felt this weekend running.  I am lucky my husband ran with me, because laying down like that on the sidewalk of my neighborhood is ill advised.  OMG I felt like I was running for the first time.  A week ago Friday I woke up feeling really bad sore throat, cough, stuffy, fever and a ridiculous schedule that had zero room for any of that and would continue through my costumed appearance as the Running Toilet at Water Drop Dash that Saturday.  Down enough medicine and you can do anything; so off I went, not fully lucid, but fulfilling my obligations.  Fast forward more than a week down the line.  I am a slug.  After Water Drop Dash on Saturday I got in my PJ's laid on the couch and got up Monday to start a whirlwind week at work. 

 

Finally this weekend my sinus infection was clearing up but the bronchitis has been relentless, and not at all annoying, ask my sleep deprived husband and edgy co-workers. Also thank to all the coughing it feels like I cracked a rib, I am sure I didn't.  Hope all of that hacking at least equates to a decent ab workout.  

 

Saturday and Sunday I tried to run and I just could not catch my breath, oh yeah or stop coughing.  Also discovered in our neighborhood we we do not have enough crosswalks where we have to stop so I can get a break doubled over coughing while we  wait on a walk sign.  Funny how that seems like such a positive when you can actually breathe, it really is all about perspective.  Needless to say since my less than successful runs on Saturday and Sunday.  Oh yeah needed a three hour nap after Sunday's 3 mile endurance event.  I have not been back at it.  What is that rule about above the neck and below the neck.  This thing is a pain in the neck.  I am a running blogger who can't run. Waiting it out, really impatiently.  I am sure I should be cross training but lately just getting through work has felt like a marathon event and sadly I usually need a nap before I cook dinner, how embarrassing.

 

So signing off to tape up my ribs, I feel just like a tough football player.  Today grateful my husband hasn't left me.  I would be running out of patience, not to mention I am not brining much to the table.  Hope you are having a better couple of weeks.  How long do you wait and how do you get back without overdoing it? 

Work and Illness...Running Dressed as a Toilet

Yes sometimes work and running collide and sometimes that means you end up running 4 miles dressed as a running toilet, or that might just happen to me.  Last Saturday Metro Atlanta Utilities were out celebrating the beginning of USEPA WaterSense Program's Fix a Leak Week.  We hosted 660 runners at the Water Drop Dash 5K and Kid's 1 mile Fun Run.  The weather was beautiful and I was dressed as a running toilet, and yes I ran both races like that.  I have to first mention that in my professional life I would not be described as whimsical.  In fact when I walked out after running Volunteer Registration and got in my costume you could feel the eye of every colleague I work with around the region.  You could not hear a peep.  I don't know what they thought  I would do.  I mean I could not even lift my arms.

One brave soul broke the ice.

My Friend Laura from The Chattahoochee River Keeper. 

After that first request for pics we were off to the races!  My friend from Gainesville Utilities was dressed as the Conservation Crusader and we headed out to lead pre-race warm ups that we had written out to clever water facts and tips.  Then it was time to run.  I have to say I was apprehensive about whether I could run both races in the costume.  Thanks to Hubby's artistic work securing the costume, which was a little too big for me, previous owner was a little bigger, it was pretty stable.  It was also hot.  The hardest part is the arm holes are cut so low I had no arm swing and I am not used to being so wide so I kept hitting folks I passed, costume is mostly foam so no injuries.  I will say everyone was so excited about the running toilet and had a great time.  It is sometimes fun to throw caution and your career to the wind, and do something outside the box.  After making it through the 5K in 30 minute, probably my slowest 5K in 2 years, but as a fellow runner pointed out my PR as a Running Toilet, it was Kids Fun Run time.  This was great I was out front of the kids and I took off really fast so they could Chase Down Leaks.  Of course after the initial couple hundred yards I gradually slowed down so everyone could catch me.  We all win at Water Drop Dash, especially water.

We end the event with a family water festival and awards. It was a huge success.  It was our second year.  We doubled our participants.  It was great fun.  I will say organizing and managing a race is so much more stress than just showing up to run, so thank volunteers and race coordinators.  Oh yeah I also might have forgotten to mention I also did all of this with Bronchitis and a Sinus infection that then took me out of running commission for the rest of the week, which was crazy busy at work and found me begging for Friday. A testament to good drugs and mind over matter!

This weekend marked the first painful runs I have done since Water Drop Dash.  I am so out of shape! I miss being able to breathe.  More on that later.  Hope everyone is having a great day! Hopefully thing are slowing down or returning to normal.  I hope to get back to regular blogging.

Lately I am grateful for Respiratory Rescue Tea and good cough medicine!

Miscellaneous Odds and Ends

So it has just been so busy lately it seems I don't get to write my blog as often as I like, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  If I can get through the next two weeks.  Here's hoping it isn't a train baring down.  Anyway a lot has happened.  For many of you we sprung forward and your morning run was plunged into darkness and you miss the dawn.  Perhaps the only benefit of running at 4AM is it really doesn't get any darker so this morning my run seemed a lot like my run usually seems.  No mental hurdle to overcome. 

Because we were actually able to have a somewhat relaxing weekend, finally, I wasn't even that tired.  Maybe it was the beautiful starry sky.  Anyway, run for today is in the books.  Since I haven't been checking in as often you might think my fitness has also gone by the wayside.  I can promise you I still get my runs and exercise in, even if I can't find time to write about it; or maybe more truthfully, hubby and I have been using our downtime to watch the entire Breaking Bad series on Netflix.  Hey, we all deserve a little break.  We are nearly done so that little excuse should go by the boards soon.  I have been doing pretty well.  I did take a total rest day last Tuesday.  I just wasn't feeling well and my knee had been bothering me.  That did wonders and I felt a lot better.  I have been doing pretty well with strength training by having it on my habit tracker for 4 days a week and realizing even a few minutes is better than nothing.

Saturday AM hubby and I got up early and went down to the Silver Comet Trail to cheer on the 10K racers.  It was fun.  Do you ever go out and support other runners just because?  This 10K is on a running/biking trail and so it is not lined with spectators.  The runners were really grateful to see us out cheering them on and kept thanking us for coming out.  Of course we were inspired and went back out to Silver Comet for a 6.5 mile run later that morning. 

Also approaching quickly is the Water Drop Dash 5K.  This is the race I co-manage each year.  It is always so exciting to give back to other runners.  I will tell you it is much more nerve wracking to have to manage a race than to run a race.  You just want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves.  Of course you also want enough port-a-potties and bagels.  This year I will be leading the warm ups with a friend dressed as the Conservation Crusader.  I will be dressed as a running toilet, then we will run the race in costume.  It should be fun!  I will be sure to report back on the event.

Manic Monday

Garfield was right...I hate Mondays

Today was one of those days..an "I don't want to run day."   You know how some days you wake up and realize, it is Monday and this is just the first day in a long line of days I have to be up and at them at 4AM.  I was also wondering what happened to the weekend?  It seems the last 2 months have just been pack in as much as possible and just keep going.  Head down plow through. 

I definitely felt that today when my clock flashed 4:10 and my first thoughts were about the length of the week ahead and the hills awaiting my morning run.  That being said I had my shoes and clothes waiting so I got ready and headed out.  It was not an impressive run, around 10:30/mile, other than I did it when I did not want to.  Yes, I am sure my day has been better because I did it. 

Maybe I was tired from our 6 miler yesterday, though it was just 6 miles.  Honestly since the robbery, the packing to move, the move, and the unpacking I am not sure I have run 6 miles in two months.  That is kind of embarrassing.  The run itself felt fine yesterday and a 71 degree day brought out so many people onto the Beltline hubby said it reminded him of Times Square.

The six miler was packed into another weekend of moving errands and setting up house; so I still long for the weekend off where we don't have a to do list.  Maybe it is that this time of year is equally busy at work so it just seems like some crazy carnival ride I can't get off. 

I do know running helps and I look forward to more regular long runs and less general chaos.  In two weeks we will hold the Second Annual Water Drop Dash 5-K, a race I co-organize.  Once that project is behind me I think things will settle down.  Oh yeah this year I get to run the race too, dressed as a running toilet, so the racers can chase down leaks.  I am sure pictures and video will abound so I will be sure to share. 

Here's to more wine tonight and less whining.  What gets you out the door?  When do you say to yourself this is your body's way of saying take a break?  I live with a run streaker so I am not sure I have mastered that.