I’m back! I’m 33! I don’t feel well! Maybe I shouldn’t have run today but then maybe I really should’ve because I just kicked Week 7’s ass and I feel good! It doesn’t add up.
The odds were against me and I really had no intention of running today. I’ve got a bug or something, unless this is just what 33 feels like and I better get used to it because this is my life now. I feel like I’m at the age where doctors don’t try to heal you now, they just try to make you comfortable.
So last few days I have felt awful, all blocked up and dizzy and shivery and nauseous. I think this must be what other men call Man Flu when they don’t want to do the washing up.
I still went to work though, it’s too suspicious taking a sick day on your birthday and I was just about able to function so I powered through and, well, pretty much got nothing done.
So with all that going on I decided very early on not to run today but then this evening a window opened up and I thought, hmmmm what’s out there? It really shouldn’t have gone as well as it did. I felt sick, I hadn’t prepared at all, hadn’t eaten in hours and what I did eat wasn’t healthy.
I decided to go easy on myself. Sure, it was a 25 minute run but there was no obligation to finish if I didn’t feel up to it. But of course there was because the stubborn voice in my head told me that if I’m doing this, I’m doing this right dammit.
I wasn’t sure what to listen to so I defaulted to my awesome 90s playlist but I’m getting a bit bored of it now because I’ve been playing it to death all week. Fortunately it starts with an Oasis song and that was all the inspiration I needed so I used the warm up walk to download their essentials playlist (love Apple Music) and that may have been the little push I needed to get going.
It became very clear to me very early on that I would not be able to go the distance. My legs were getting tired already and with my reduced breathing ability I was getting out of breath. It was an indisputable truth that I would not be finishing this. Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong.
I don’t know how it happened but at the 5 minute point I realised I was feeling... not completely horrible. Somehow I settled into a comfortable rhythm managed to keep puffing along without too much difficulty. I didn’t want to jinx it so I didn’t overthink it, I just focused on enjoying the music.
It was an uneventful run without any significant encounters. I just ran around the residential path at my own pace and before I knew it there was only 5 minutes left. I was in two minds at this point because it seemed like a very real possibility that, not only would I finish this, but I might also be able to go above and beyond and add a bit at the end.
Then there was 1 minute left and, while I still had a minuscule amount of fuel left in the tank, I decided to quit while I was ahead. But I still wanted a strong finish so I sped up into a proper run for the last 30 seconds.
I really didn’t think I had this run in me, I felt horrible before it and i feel a little less horrible now. Is running actually good when you’re unwell? Is it good to sweat it out? Or is it going to catch up with me with a vengeance? I kinda need to know because I’m driving to Bristol tomorrow and I’d like to make it home again.
So there we go. Week 7 is done, I’m not sure how I got here but here I am and I look forward to attempting Week 8. This is getting serious, people. Now I’m going to undermine my efforts with chips and, let’s face it, probably birthday cake too.
W7R3 done!
W7R3 - something magic happened...
Sore ankle - what do I do?
W7R3, A COLD AND STARRY NIGHT
