Running And Swimming Away The Ickiness

I have been feeling icky for the last week. Runny nose, sore throat, itchy eyes, headache. Not fun. I have a lot of stuff going on in my professional life that has been contributing to the fatigue. Four weekends of concerts and rehearsals. Oh, and Stella has been sick, and I love giving Stella hugs and kisses—although she is at that not-so-fun period in her life when she is not too excited about giving me hugs and kisses. Sigh. My performances with BIODANCE were absolutely fantastic. This picture is following our last performance. It got to work with an unbelievably talented group of performers.

Over the weekend, went and watch my friends race nearby in a place called Mendon Ponds. My friends Kelly, Ben and Mike ran the 50k, and my training partner Mike ran the 20k. I had totally anticipated doing the 20k trail run this week, until the tragic ickiness struck earlier in the week.

Here are Kelly and Ben coming into transition after their second 10k loop. Apparently Kelly thought the race was already over, or she is just doing her best Chariots of Fire victory lap.

Here is my buddy Mike feeling great during transition. You know he's feeling great because he is giving me the thumbs up.

Look who came out to support her fellow Train This team member Kelly

It's my buddy Alexa. We coordinated my sweater and her run running jacket.

I call this photo: Boys on Hill. Luca and Julian wanted a better vantage point to watch the runners coming in. Shortly after taking this photo, Julian ran down the hill, lost his shoe, and started laughing hysterically. I will never understand what makes that boy tick. Wait... he is just like his dad. Never mind.

So, with ickiness about me, I set everything aside for a bit and headed over to the pool Monday afternoon to try my hand at a thousand yards or so. In my experience, running, swimming, and biking when you are slightly ill can go one of two ways:

1) make you  more sick and miserable
2) just the thing your body needs to break out of its funk and continue on its journey towards immortality—like Cher.

Luckily, it was number two. This morning, I woke up at 5:45, and met my friends Mike and Ryan for a 6.9 mile run. Wow, two workouts in two days. I am on a roll. If I can just keep it going long enough to run a 10k on Thanksgiving morning. I would really like to parlay my training the next two weeks into a 45 minute 10k. It's a long-shot right now considering I am just starting to run again—sans pain—for the first time since Ironman.

When I posted my shout-outs the other day, there was one glaringly obvious omission that I only realized after posting. Congratulations goes out to my blogger buddy Bob from ONEHOURIRONMAN, who finished IMFL in an impressive 12:47. Way to go Bob!  The ironic part is that I was tracking him all day—along with my cousin and two other friends—on Ironman Live.

More Soon. Train Smart!