Nocturnal Running

Who has time to blog? Not me. So I'll be brief.

On Saturday night at about 9 PM I headed out for 6 Galloway "magic miles" of speedwork, which are supposed to predict your marathon pace. Let's just say that I'll be mere footsteps ahead of the walkers...

Tonight I also headed out at 9 PM for 40 minutes of fun. While it was good to get away and "escape" for 40 minutes, I have to say that it's just not enough. Bring on the long run!

I have my 20-miler this Saturday and I am STILL undecided as to which insane time slot I will try to run it in. Aaack! Darn Memphissippi heat!

Better

It is with much joy that I just titled this post. Aaah, things have improved. Isaac is down to maybe one low fever per day (knock on wood), so his ear infection antibiotics must be working. As for me, I easily feel twice as good as I did earlier this week. That's quite a change!

We went out for just a walk yesterday morning, just because I had a major case of cabin fever. Man oh man - HOT HOT HOT. It is 80 degrees even before 8 AM, and it is 90 degrees even at 9 PM. Insanity! Needless to say, we didn't last long: 2.5 miles and I was dripping wet.

I hope to be able to do this weekend's prescribed speedwork. We shall see!

On Hold

Oh what a tangled web life weaves. Our health around here has gone from bad to worse. I "broke down" and took myself to the doc on Monday and was diagnosed as having the start of a sinus infection. Now I'm glad I went, because I have some antibiotics and some other meds.

That afternoon, Isaac's fever got up to 105 degrees and we had to give him a very cool bath (which Chasen handled, thankfully -- there is only so much screaming I can take) which worked to bring down the fever, in addition to meds. We successfully avoided the emergency room (which is where we were told to go if the fever didn't break, as it was past 5 PM). Then Isaac woke in the middle of the night with a fever of 103, which really seemed like nothing since we've now seen 105. That time cold, wet washcloths did the trick. But the poor boy really has not been fever free since Sunday, so we are going to the pediatrician in a bit.

I do have one tiny running tidbit to add. Since the LOW daily temperature has been 80 degrees around here lately (and that's at midnight), and the high including the heat index has been 105 (just like Isaac - ha!) it has been impossible to run, regardless of my health. Inspired by Lizzie Lee's recent post on water running, I headed to our neighborhood pool last night and did 40 minutes of pool running. It's better than nothing! And it gave me a nice "break" from everything. The pool goes from 3 feet deep to 5 feet deep. It was so refreshing, as even at 9 PM it was 90 degrees as I walked to the pool.

That's all, folks. I'll probably have nothing but health issues to report for a while.

Update: Isaac has an ear infection. His white blood count is OK, thankfully. The doc thought it should be checked due to all of the high fevers. We have antibiotics for the ear infection. One interesting tidbit to know is that I thought Isaac was getting in a lower canine tooth, which doesn't help matters, until he flung his head back while we were trying to use the nasal aspirator (aka snot sucker) when I discovered two more upper molars well on their way. I didn't even know about them! So an ear infection, fevers, congestion and THREE teeth coming in. Poor little guy!

Sick and Tired

Oh what a week! I was scheduled to do a run on Monday after last week's "17 mile death march," but as mine and Isaac's toddler playgroup was concluding on Monday morning I started to feel weak and tired, and my stomach was weird. Uh oh! Long story short, seven hours later I began communicating with my long lost friend Ralph after nearly six years! Yuck. So no running that day.

On Tuesday I was recovering and certainly not 100%. No running.

I got back on the horse on Wednesday. Score!

Thursday, by the schedule, was a rest day.

I should have either ran or walked on Friday, but guess what: I felt poorly again. Aaaack! Fortunately, nothing came of it, but I did take it easy that day. (No, I am not "with child.")

On Saturday I woke up with a sore throat AND I was gone from 8 AM to 9 PM. No speedwork.

Today (Sunday) wasn't much better, especially considering that Isaac woke in the wee hours screaming with teething pain. Poor guy. It took a while to soothe him and let the meds kick in! None the less, it is Father's Day, so Isaac made these for Chasen (and by 'Isaac,' I mean ME!!!!):

May the force be with you! The cookie cutters are from Williams Sonoma.

I am hoping that tomorrow will bring better health and a chance to run.

A One-Sock Wonder

Where has time gone? It does fly when you're busy. Man oh man! I'll hit the highlights. First and foremost, Isaac has startd to RUN! I am in trouble now...

Here I am mocking the flamingos at the Memphis Zoo. The boy in pink shoes is NOT Isaac.

Isaac and Chasen wait for the sea lion shoe to begin.

Isaac enjoys a dip in the wading pool at the zoo. Members Night is the most fun!

I previously thought that life couldn't get any more busy. I was wrong. My new thing is running at dusk. No sunscreen required! My quaint neighborhood has gas lamp posts in each front yard, so it is rather well lit. One night I couldn't even make it out until past 9 PM. It was threatening to rain, but I was desperate to cover some miles. Midway through it began to pour rain. I have to tell you -- it was the most invigorating event of 2010! I felt so ALIVE running in the rain. It was awesome. The only downside was that it took my shoes 48 hours to completely dry. Small price to pay!

Isaac loves to go to the spray park. What a great place for little kids!

Venturing out in this heat requires water fun.

It has been super hot lately, so I knew that my 17-miler better start early. 5:50 AM was the earliest I could make it out on Saturday. Yikes - it got hot FAST. It was more like a 17 mile death march. I walked about the last *gulp* 5 miles. I even took off one sock for a while because a blister was developing. That led to a blister in another unprotected area. Aye aye aye! But I covered 17 miles, even though it was not pretty.

The marathon is 17 weeks out, and Chasen feels that I could run one in a month's time. 17 weeks is definitely a long time to wait, but considering long runs are only every third week at this point, I think that's a good length of time until the "big day." And I have to commend the speedwork sessions. They're brutal, so I feel they're doing me some good. Ha!

Back to the heat: I am pondering how to tackle the remaining long runs. The ONLY way, in my estimation, to beat the heat is actually to try to beat the sun. It's hot 'round the clock, trust me (and weather.com) so I have two plans of attack:

A) Start the runs even earlier, like at 3 AM. The problem with this is my lack of ability to get into bed early enough to make this happen. The days of 8 PM shut-eye are gone. I'll get about 10-12 miles done in the dark and finish up in the HOT sunshine.

B) Start the runs at about 9 PM. Maybe I could begin a nap when Chasen gets home (a girl can dream) and then be a bit more rested for the run. I'd do the whole thing in the dark, get in past midnight, then hit the hay.

What do you think? Either way requires, obviously, running in the dark where I'd be wearing blinky lights. It's not ideal, but when you live in "Memphississippi" like I do, it's merely survival. The "low" temp here has been 80 degrees lately. Seriously.

My "cola/caffeine free" anniversary has come and gone. I did celebrate with a Coke Zero, which tasted like a cleaning product (not that I know from personal experience what cleaners taste like). Ick. I have since tried Diet Coke on several occasions (like while volunteering at Vacation Bible School for a week) and it didn't do much for me. I am not saying I am OFF the stuff completely, but I am saying that it'll be a rarity for me. I am fine with that.

Stay cool out there!