Ouch

OKay, I finished up the "100 mile club" thingy on Saturday with a bit of bike work and a fairly short, but intense run. The original plan was to then to take Sunday off, and then go do some running on a track today, completely disconnected from clocks, splits, distance, cadence, etc, etc, etc. Just enjoy the feeling of being a runner again, because, despite my protests to the contrary, I was still "training" in that post-Chicago period, albeit training without a specific goal, and injured to boot.

I didn't run today. In part, because my darling son woke up more than an hour early today, but mainly because I had a dentist appointment this morning, and nothing says "You oughn't run" like a pounding headache and a sore jaw. On the plus side, my wife took him out this afternoon (she took the day off, a big help since today was his first dental appointment, where he did quite well), and, when he came back from the library, he hunted me down and read me his new book (Street Sweepers) to "make you feel better, Daddy."

I'll run tomorrow.

I can't wait until Sunday

See, the "100 mile club" thing ends on Saturday. I didn't think I was pushing all that much - I have a (fairly reasonable) goal of 300 miles in the 10 week period. Simple, a mere 30 per week. Of course, I didn't plan on some illness, nor being injured while running Chicago, so my weekly totals have been all over the map. Still, I am on track to finish, through a healthy combination of biking and running. (Every 3 bike miles count as 1 mile toward the goal - which means I actually accrue miles from biking somewhat more slowly than I could if I were just running.)

Anyway, as I said, I didn't think I was pushing hard. After all, most of my runs for the past 2-3 weeks have been in the 2-4 mile range, nice and simple, though speedier than they used to be (yay for post-marathon legs!). And then I stopped - every run, or almost every one, anyway, has been preceeded by a short, 21 mile bike ride (just under the 1 hour time limit for the bikes). So, they haven't been 2-4 mile runs, they have been 75-90 minutes of continuous exercise. Or, on the club log book, 8-12 miles per day.

So, Sunday I am going to slack off. Honest. Back to just running. And weights. Maybe the rowing machine to mix things up a bit. But I feel the need to back off a bit, just to let my body catch up to this again.

Today's other news - while feeding my son dinner, my wife calls to inform me that her car is dead, won't start, battery is kaput, can I come get her please, and bring jumper cables. I load up the diaper bag with a snack and a drink, get the son dressed in his coat, hat, mittens, etc, and drive to get her. When I get there, something like four other people are trying to help her, and the car is being jumped. (They tried to call, but we only have one cell, and she had it.) So, son and I stick around until the committee gets the car started, and then we follow her to a national chain with an auto service center. We drop the car off, head off into the mall to find the restrooms (the son is potty training, and "potty" means NOW, but we make it in time), and then I send the two of them back home in the minivan, so I can wait in the mall until her car is fixed. What a fun way to spend an evening, right?

Back again

I'll resume normal posting again soon, but thought I should mention that I am alive and well, for any reader who is still regular. I am well and truly done with the "100 mile club" thing (although the event does not end until Saturday night, and I am still adding miles to achieve a personal goal). I finished NaNoWriMo with a final count og 50,100 words, which was actually much tougher than what I wrote last year, even though I wrote fewer words.