I'm Fine...REALLY!

Well it has been a hell-ish couple of weeks, so I won't even try and sugar coat.  I had an amazing 24 mile run about 3 weeks ago, and went downhill soon after.  And not the good downhill where you fly your arms out and pretend you are floating, but the fever, chills, and not able to eat a thing for days kind.  Believe it or not, I got out to run a couple times during that week, not realizing I was sick and just thinking I was a really bad and slow runner. 

It was finally Friday night when it occurred to me that I might not be as immune to getting sick as I always like to brag about.  Fast forward to a weekend in bed, and another full week of not eating and feeling like someone had turned me inside out and hung me from a tree.  (I don't know, I guess I have been watching too much of Alaska - the last frontier.)

How can you not love these guys

Anyway, every time I thought I was getting better and would have a decent meal, my stomach quickly nixed that plan.  When I finally did start to feel a little better, I tried to continue on with my training.  I had a 50K planned for Feb. 07th, so did exactly what you are suppose to do when you miss a week and a half of training...I ran 40 miles from Sunday-Friday and capped it off with another 31 on Saturday.

A 70 mile week and ...Yeah, I got sick again.  But, the good news is, that only lasted for that afternoon and part of Sunday, so by  Monday I was fit as a fiddle again.  I took it easy until yesterday, when I finally felt like my good old self on an 11 mile run.

Actually, the 50K on Saturday (Mid Maryland 50K) was a really nice run.  The weather was just about perfect, all things considered.  The trail, which is 5 loops of a 10K, was frozen for the first 3, and that made it pretty runnable.  There were some "grab a tree" icy spots, but for the most part, they were short and not an issue.  On the 4th loop, things started to get dicey and by the 5th, it was a slop fest, as I suspected it would be as the ground thawed.  I really wanted to break 7 hours, so I pushed myself and that is probably why I had a stomach relapse.  This is not a difficult trail run, but sometimes that can be mentally more challenging, because there is no reason to walk, like a really steep incline or ridiculous rocks.  Other than the iced over areas and a few really root-y sections, this trail was fully runnable.  This is the third time I have done Mid Maryland, and I really do like it.  Knowing what to expect from each sections helps to break it up and makes it go so much faster.  Running through the pavilion at the end of each loop is comforting and resets my mind for the next loop.  It is good training for Umstead because it  has a lot of the same features on a smaller scale.  And I do like my new habit of totally zoning out while I am running.  I guess it is as close to some transformative state like yoga, that this hyper girl will ever achieve.

And in the end, it was all good.  I finished with a smile on my face and medal around my neck.  Can't ask for much more than that on a cold day in February!