Week in Review: 3-9 March - Healthy Again, Probably

The running:

3 March: 4.5 miles (30-ish minutes), around the Inner Harbor, at the secret dead time (7:30 p.m. on Sundays, for anybody who wants the scenery without crowds of any sort)

4 March: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), easy jog on and around the APG dirt loop

5 March: afternoon: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), at APG; evening: 2 mile warm-up, 8x(400m speed, 400m jog) in 82, 81, 83, 83, 83, 83, 83, 80, 2.5 mile warmdown, total 15 miles (total 110 minutes)

6 March: 6 miles (45 minutes) at APG

7 March: off

8 March: 10 miles (75 minutes) around downtown Baltimore

9 March: 13 miles (100 minutes) at Patapsco, mostly on trails, finished with one run up Gun Road

Total Time: 400 minutes
Total Distance: 54 miles

The story:

Per the plan, more mileage than the week before, and also, per the dream, feeling better doing it than the week before.  This recent turn-for-the-better that my health has taken seems to be continuing, and I'm going to continue not to question it too rigorously, lest I create problems where there are none, and fall apart again.

One thing is for (relative) certain, though, and it's that I haven't felt the way I feel right now in a long, long time.  I'm not sure that I can remember when I felt this physically well.  I have a lot of energy, I'm not dragging myself through the day, I'm thinking a lot more clearly.  Feeling healthy is awesome.  And, more to the point, feeling healthy is so awesome that it's hard for me to imagine now how I dragged myself through so many months (by my guess, since over a year ago, if not longer) feeling so terrible.

Of course, I realize that health is fragile (if my past year or so has taught me anything), and it is entirely possible that it could all fall apart again, for any number of reasons.  But for now, the life lesson is that preservation of your health should be a high priority, and if you're constantly tired, or foggy-headed, or generally miserable, YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY.  Don't make the mistake that I made, and assume that it's part of life, or getting old, or just how things are.  There are things you can do to try to get better.  It will be a process, and it will take time, and it will take effort to maintain.  And I'm not about to get on a soap box and preach about the best method to get there from here (as I'm still sorting out exactly which things I've done have improved my health).  All I will say is that there is a way, and if you're not doing so well, your first priority should be to find that way, whatever it is.

Finally, Badwater stuff: If you're interested in being a part of my crew for Badwater this summer, you have until this Saturday (16 March) to let me know.  I'll make my decision on Sunday (17 March) and let everybody know, one way or the other.  If I haven't acknowledged your request, ask me again.  And when you do let me know, please let me know WHY you want to be a part of my crew.  I'm not going to list a whole bunch of qualifications, or make up an application (amusing though that might be for me), but I will say that it is important for me to understand why you want to be there, and that the reason why you want to be there is arguably the most important factor in my decision.  But of course, whatever other information that you'd like to provide is more than welcome.

The week ahead: more running, and the Rock N Roll USA (formerly National) Marathon - fingers crossed, my first decent marathon performance in a long time . . .