Not Exactly a Marathon Taper

Turns out back, is really more like "back" since I because I haven't been running, I haven't been blogging. Why haven't I been running, when here I sit, less than three small weeks away from the Denver Marathon? Well, let me tell you:

Now, while I generally do welcome any and all prescribed
breaks from house/kid duties, this is not exactly the directive you want to
get from your doctor, three weeks out from your (first, for which you
have been training for months) marathon.

While I do still feel pretty much like roadkill, I am hating not being able to run¹. Quite honestly, I would be inclinced to ignore the good doc's advice and run anyway, if I thought myself capable of actually completing a decent run without going into respiratory distress. And so the very worst part of the last few days (aside from the crabby repurcussions on my poor family, of course) is that I am physically unable to run, despite the beautiful weather and the strong desire to do so. So, sadly, my new goal for the marathon has simply become to finish it come hell or high water. I don't care how long it takes, because at this point I will be glad to be running again by then. It really sucks to spend months doggedly training for something, a singular goal, only to have it slip through your fingers, just out of reach....sigh.

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¹-My last run was last Thursday, a 5-miler. The weather was good and I actually felt ok at the time, except that I felt like I was having a hard time breathing, which was odd. I thought maybe it was just the incredible shrinking sports bra I had worn that day corseting my ribcage. About 4 miles in, I started feeling better and settling into my groove, so I figured I must have just needed a longer warm up for reasons unbeknownst to me (yeah, like perhaps because of the fact that my body was trying to fight of The Consumption). I was feeling good enough that I would have kept going beyond 5 miles, had I had more time. ANYWAY, I proceeded from there to the gym, had a good work out, still felt fine. Woke up Friday with a cough and a little achey, but still sort-of fine. Well, by Friday night, I was wishing I might actually die, rather than continue to feel the way I did then (extreme body aches, bad cough, high fever, exhaustion). The good news is that it isn't H1N1 or even the flu at all...the bad news is it's some other respiratory virus (on top of the sinus infection I was already on antibiotics for) that has lasted muuuuuccchhhh longer and made me feel waaaaaaayyyyy worse than the flu. Suh-weet.

Blog Sabbatical: Officially Over

Weeeeell, in case no one noticed (highly likely) I've been taking a little sabbatical the past couple of weeks. I got hit with a triple-trifecta of craziness (yes, that's 9 degrees of crazy) that forced me to temporarily abandon my lowest ROI activities, one of which, unfortunately tends to be blogging. (I'm sorry blogging, I do love you and you are important to me. It's just that, quite frankly, you hover near the bottom of my Top 8 Most Important Activities and you tend to be the most congenial when ignored: the kids get in my face and yell or poke me, the hubs whines and pouts, work witholds financial reward, the dogs poop on the carpet, Running pimp-slaps me, and the PB M&M's ¹ haunt me if I ignore any of them...so...I'm so sorry, but you drew the short straw. Luckily, I know you'll forgive me. Heck, you probably weren't even mad in the first place.)

Anyway, I am back from busy work projects, busy home projects, busy kids activities, busy long holiday weekend with guests, and super-busy marathon training weeks. Plus I was sick somewhere in there, though I think I only officially allotted a day for it as there was simply no time to dwell any longer on it. BUT, antibiotics in hand, soccer in full swing, marathon taper coming, and 3 rooms re-decorated and I am BACK, baby.

I've got a gazillion running stats to update on Daily Mile (thank you gizmo for keeping track of them for me as I didn't have capacity in my temporal flux capacitor to do it on my own) and some running observations to spew, so my darling blog you are back to Top 3 5 8. Top 8 for sure.
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¹ - The peanut butter M&M's have made a reappearance on the top shelf of the panty (at first I thought they climbed out of the trash can and came back to haunt me, but no, hubs bought them...coincidence? I think not)...and I've determined that as long as I stay under eating the 5.4-pounds threshold, my running doesn't seem to suffer, either. Win-win!

You know what's not good fuel for a run? 5.4 pounds of peanut butter M&Ms. I finally threw them in the trash yesterday afternoon, lest I become a hard-core addict. And not that surprisingly, my run yesterday afternoon was furiously...meh.

I ran while Shortie1 was at soccer practice (new practice locale=right next to awesome running trails, highly auspicious) and at 2 minutes in, I already needed to stop and catch my breath. This was not going to be good. Damn M&Ms! My legs felt ok but I was panting and out of breath. I've only done this section of trail once or twice and it's generally comprised of rolling hills, but nothing too tough. It was hot, though, at about 90 degrees.

I kept plugging along. I was hoping to do a 9-flat or maybe sub-9 pace for the whole run. My first mile clocked in at 10:15. Uh oh. Mile 2 was about the same. At mile 2 I turned back so that I wouldn't be late meeting Shortie1 at the end of practice. It was at this point that I realized that it felt MUCHHHHHH easier going back. I was easily doing 7:55 pace! Then I realized that although there were rollers, I was actually going downhill. Soooooo....I had actually been going up a long gradual hill the whole way out, and didn't notice...well no wonder I was was huffing! I did end up running a negative split, keeping the pace faster the 2 miles back.

Overall run stats:
4 miles in 38:something (forgot what gizmo told me
Peanut butter M&M burps: 43.5
Bugs swallowed¹: 2
Prairie dog² sightings: 3,289

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¹ - Perhaps they were attracted to the scent of peanut butter emanating from me?
² - They were everywhere on this trail...and didn't run away when I approached, but stared me down--ballsy little things!--and I wasn't sure if perhaps I ought to be more afraid of them than they were of me. Do they bite? Will they chase me? I just didn't know. I ended up chattering at them as I do to my own (non-prairie) dogs. (Yes, cute guy who passed me on the BMX dirt bike, I am crazy, burping, red-faced, slow-running, self-talker. Carry on.) This seemed to freak them out enough that they just stared but left me alone.