I Need A Run!

On and off the road, this was a tough week. 

The cold virus that took me down last weekend slowly improved. I was pretty fatigued early in the week and didn't get much movement in. That in itself was a stressor and reminder of how much running and sweating help my anxiety.

By Wednesday, I was feeling pretty good. I was literally walking out the door for a run when my youngest son called me. He was getting ready to leave for work and he realized he forgot his keys. He was locked out of their yard, so he tried to climb over the fence. His pant leg got caught on the top and he fell 6 feet to the concrete below, landing on his face and hurting his wrist. He did not sound good. So instead of driving to the forest preserve for a run, I drove to the city, taking him to the ER to be evaluated. Fortunately, he 'only' had a concussion and a wrist sprain.  If you've been following me for a while, you know this kid has had his share of injuries over the years. I really think I should wrap him in bubble wrap! I'm so glad he is ok.

I also learned that I didn't get a bib for the 2024 Chicago Marathon. I read that over 120,000 runners applied to the lottery. Yes, you read that right. 😳 To put it in perspective, the first time I ran Chicago, in 2011, I just signed up. Not getting in this time hit harder than I expected. Even though I swore off marathons after my diagnosis with RA in 2016, after spectating this year, I wanted to run Chicago once more, to prove to myself that I could. And no, I don't want to pick a different marathon. I'm going to take this as a sign that I need to follow a different path. 

No matter what, I will continue to run. Running is my therapy. I also love the feeling of running. Now that I know I don't have the marathon on my calendar, I can decide what, if anything will be next. You know there will be plenty of trails, though! 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: rest

Monday: run 4.25 miles

Tuesday: yoga

Wednesday: run aborted

Thursday: strength

Friday: run 6.3 miles

Saturday: drive to the lake

Since I was still feeling sick on Sunday and skipped my run, I decided to run on Monday. I wasn't anywhere near 100%, but I needed some fresh air. I ran around my neighborhood, close to home. While I did have to take a few walk breaks, it felt good to move. 

Sammy Jo arrived at the gym on Thursday with her knee wrapped. She tore her ACL and sprained her MCL while skiing over the weekend. She's going to have it repaired once she decides on a surgeon. Before this, I had asked her if we could do bench presses since I missed doing them last week. She had me build to 3 sets of 2 at 87-92%, which was 87#. She initially had me attempt 90#, but I was unable. I alternated those with banded pull-aparts, 3 sets of 10. After that, I did cyclist squats using a 35# KB, 3 sets of 12, alternating with banded pulldowns, 3 sets of 15. 

Since I was sidelined earlier this week due to illness, etc, I stayed after to work on the deload lifts that I missed. I built to 55% on both my deadlifts (115#) and back squats (90#), doing 4 sets of 5 of each. It felt good to be able to focus on form instead of struggling with the heavy weights. I felt much better mentally after my strength session. 

Friday morning was relatively warm with the promise of a beautiful sunrise. I was so happy to lace up and I worked on holding back on my pace, which made for a successful run with no walk breaks! I did have to make a pit stop at the local grocery store--dammit--but overall, it felt great to be back!

Christmas prep!

Let the holiday prep begin! While I'm slowly decorating my house, last week I took time to bake a fun batch of cookies. My inspiration came from none other than Brooks. The RHT was presented with a couple of challenges including a cookie baking contest, an ugly sweater contest, and a wallpaper/background contest. I didn't win, but there was a lot of competition! And in case you were wondering, these tasted as good as they look!

How was your week? Has anyone else been fighting illness? Did anyone else enter a cookie contest? Did you run a race this weekend?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.