Running sick

After nearly a week of bleary-eyed, stuffy-nosed mornings during which I was too tired and too ill to work out, I slept in this Saturday and prepared myself mentally for an afternoon run. Even though it was not much over 30 degrees out and a half slush, half ice mess still clung to the ground, I donned my running tights and sneakers for a nice long speed workout.

There's been a particular strain of ick floating around my office of late, infecting nearly everyone over the last two weeks. I fell later than most, but fell just the same. Not quite flu strength, its left me incredibly tired and congested nonetheless.

But in all honesty, I find that there's nothing like a good workout to help restore some feeling of health in my body. I was definitely not at the top of my game during workouts this week, but when they were over, my sinuses were clear and the flush in my cheeks and the slight ache in my muscles felt like a normal post-workout fatigue. For at least 15 minutes there, I felt relief...I felt normal! It's hard to say if working out while sick prolongs or hastens my illnesses, but I tend to believe the effect is a draw, at worst.

And speaking of health...when I returned from my run I found a note from Kate taped to the TV. She'd gone out for a haircut but could I please pick up this package at the post office -- it's our new free water tester that she'd ordered from the DEP.

While my pursuit of good health has led to a lot of sweat, Kate's has veered more in the direction of purging toxic chemicals from our lives (getting rid of our Nalgene bottles and making our own cleaning products) and localizing our diets (signing up for a CSA this summer and hoping to obtain meat products from free range farms in the tri state area). Between our respective obsessions I'm convinced we'll both live to 150.

Running's many ensembles

It's been a little while since I've written a post, but not because I've been lacking in ridiculous athletic adventures and misadventures. It's more an equation of my time and energy. Rather than regale you with all those little mis ifs, I'm going to stick with the two for which I have excellent visual accompaniment...

Our second attempt at sweating in the new year!

This is starting to become a new tradition for Kate and me. Last year, at the stroke of midnight, we celebrated the start of what would be an amazing year for us by running 4 miles in Central Park while fireworks exploded over our heads and drunk revelers cheered us on. Hoping to start another great year, we returned to the midnight run, but this time we added a few more interesting elements to the night.

First off, we spent the earlier part of the evening chowing down on a big spaghetti and meatball dinner with heaps of wine and some champagne -- just what every runner needs at the start of her midnight run! We also took the costumes up a notch this year (a number of the racers wear them). Mine was okay - 70s runner. The shorts definitely garnered me plenty of attention on the subway. Somehow the men just don't seem to notice that yes, I'm wearing tiny shorts, but they are OVER full running tights. Clearly, bum is bum, regardless of how many layers it's covered by.

But Kate's costume really made the night. She wore my mother's 30+ year old dirndl with purple thigh high socks...an outfit so good, strangers asked to have their picture taken with her and the drunk revelers cheering us on could be heard remarking "what a great outfit!" as we loped by. I'd have to agree; it was a great outfit. And a great start to the new year.

My newest ailment and newest remedy

So now I am doing battle with plantar fasciitis. It boils down to one symptom -- heel pain. After going to dinner with some friends, all of whom are athletes and do a fair amount of running, I got some new tips on how to treat this particular problem, namely this crazy sock that stretches out your foot. Kate loved it so much she took this picture of me relaxing in my sock one night.

But to digress briefly, it's amazing how much time a group of endurance nuts can sit around swapping injury and remedy stories. "Where does it hurt? Cause last year my ankle hurt here and it was tendonitis." I pull my pant leg up and swing my leg into the air so it can be seen over the dinner table as I gesture to the inside of my ankle. "Does anyone know what to do for this problem in my foot?" someone else asks. "Yeah, I had that last year..." and on and on it goes.

Ah, the glories of endurance sports. But then, if it were easy, none of us would like it so much. And on that note, I'm off to register for some races for the year!