On the Road Again

    I haven’t blogged in a while. Well, actually I blogged on my notebook and the whole thing disappeared, so it didn’t make it to the internet.


       Mostly I haven’t had much to blog about. The three week long virus really took its toll. Then I had a good week before going on vacation where I busted a toe (either sprained or broken, but definitely purple,) and strained my already over sensitive Achilles. So I have been resting and fighting an RA flare.

       One thing I have been working on lately is running for the fun of it and not letting running run my life. Being on the verge of marathon training, I’m looking at my 18 week plan and realizing this will be my life for the next 4 ½ months. Often, after a course of marathon training, people are burnt out and swear they will never do it again. Most eventually forget their negative feelings and start up the next year, but my goal is not to get to that place. I want to enjoy my training and finish my marathon thinking about the next one. I want to work my training around my life so that I don’t feel like I am giving up living to run. Part of the way I am doing this is by picking a less aggressive training plan than I had originally intended and rearranging the days so that my long run is on Friday, I can cross train by doing an extremely easy run/hike with a fun group on Saturdays, and take Sunday totally off to be ready to start again on Monday.

       I’m also learning not to be a slave to a schedule. I love to count things, nearly to the point of being obsessive so it thrills me to see my miles adding up, calculate my averages, and fill in the pages of my log. Unfortunately, I often get lost in the numbers and fail to listen to my body because I don’t want to fall behind on my mileage goals, but this is a recipe for disaster. I will track my training miles, but if it miss a run, oh well, I’m not going to let it make me a worried wreck about race day. I know I can finish a marathon, training is just about how fast and how I’ll feel the next day. Yes, I’d love to set a personal record, but more importantly I want to ENJOY the process and race!

       I hate when I feel like RA has won a battle so I was really unhappy when I finally caved and went in for a steroid shot. I really didn’t want to resort to steroids again, but after all the things that have added up to set off this flare, I just could not seem to get a handle on it on my own. RA is about staying ahead of the flares and once you get behind the 8-ball it is hard to get ahead of it again. Maybe I should have been patient and let it subside on its own, but I have run out of patience and want to get on with my life. It has been 7 months since my last dose of steroids, which is longer than I have gone in a couple of years so I guess I have made some progress. I nearly had a car accident Wednesday morning because I was so tired I wasn’t paying attention. That was what tipped the scales. I won’t take steroids just to run, but when I become a road hazard, it is time to do something.

       The good news is that I ran 4 lovely miles yesterday with great splits. The first mile was really rough as I was sore and my muscles felt like leaded rocks, but once I was loosened up I felt great. Today I’m hitting the gym and tomorrow I have 2 runs with different Hash House Harrier groups!! They are the most fun people I have ever run with and even the long bus ride to and from the first Hash will be a ton of fun. I needed more raw fun in my life and this has really done the trick! If you are ever in the mood for abject silliness, I highly recommend finding a group near you.