1. For a few days at my work a
pair of crows sat on top of the building overlooking the parking lot
when I arrived at work and were also there when I went home. I don’t
think they just sat there all day waiting, maybe they have got my
office bugged and they know when I’m getting ready to leave? They are
one of the smartest animals.
2. For fans of edibles I must
say I really enjoy the 1906 Go pills. It’s a mix of THC, CBD, and
caffeine. I can only describe it as an 8-hour runner’s high without
all of that pesky running that goes along with it.
3. It’s always fun to burn
your throat with hot food. Ugh, then for the next day or two it feels
like you have a sore throat but it’s not sore, it’s burned. Wait,
that’s no better. Maybe I need to eat only cold foods until I can
be trusted to eat like a normal human.
4. Training and dieting for 2
months ahead of my second race in my comeback after 7 years, only to
get sick the day before, is the ultimate middle finger to me.
TheraFlu was not the pre-race drink I had planned on using but after
all of the work I’d put in I’d have to be much more sick to not
run it. Plus it was a no-lose situation. Either I’m inspirational
for how well I did, or I blame being sick on my poor showing.
 |
| Dragged myself across that line |
5. Weeks like this, where I am
sick and with a less-than-stellar voice, are exactly why I try to be
at least 1, if not 2, episodes ahead in my podcast. Sort of a Get Out
Of Jail Free card. I mean I guess me sounding a big froggish would
make for an interesting podcast show but it would probably get
distracting after a few minutes.
6. The 2nd
race of my running comeback ended up being my ‘Flu Game.’ I
dragged myself out of bed, drove 45 minutes, and ran the best I
could. I mean ‘flu game’ like when Michael Jordan played Game 5
of the 1997 NBA Finals against Utah. I guess it would have been more
like MJ if I’d have finished in the Top 10, but I still pulled it
off.
7. In the Cotuit Firecracker
5K I was doing really well. For 2 ½ miles I was a good 30-40 seconds
per mile ahead of my pace from my 1st
race of my comeback in May. Then the sickness hit me like a wall. I
ended up with nearly the exact same time as that 1st
race. A 5K is 3.1 miles so that means in a little over ½ mile I lost
that 30-40 seconds per mile. I basically crawled across the finish
line, but I made it.
8. A favorite pastime of mine
after a race is to walk off and find an empty area to sit and
decompress and reflect on what I had just done. Luckily this race
was at the baseball field where the Cotuit Kettleers play in the Cape
Cod Baseball League. I walked all the way out to center field and sat
against the fence. Then I put my music on and listened for a few
minutes. I honestly couldn’t, and still can’t, believe I actually
dragged myself out and ran that race.
 |
| Sitting in the outfield, music playing. |
9. A side effect of my race.
It began at 6:15pm. That meant by the time I got home around 8:45pm I
was still filled with adrenaline from the run, but also really sick.
So despite collapsing into bed at 10 I got nearly no sleep because my
body was wide awake. I had to lie there dealing with a horrible sore
throat that kept me awake. Plus that stupid TheraFlu did nothing about
it. I had to drag myself out the next morning to get real cold
medicine, yay.
10. Essentially 4 full days
sick, the entirety of the long 4th
of July weekend. At least I didn’t lose any paying work days. I
will say that after not being sick for probably an entire year I
think I made up for lost time with this. My sore throat was so bad
that I went through an entire bag of Halls in a single day just to be
able to function.
 |
| My post-race celebration |
11. So I finally felt okay
enough to take my car down to the beach to get some fresh air. The
first thing I hear after I park is some teenager saying they honestly
thought there were 20 hours in a day. I guess I’d rather hear that
level of stupidity but feel better than be sick and have someone
sounding smart near me.
