Posts from — January 2007

I feel a little better; mentally. I got in a 6 mile run on this balmy January evening. It’s incredible that the temperature is 61 degrees and I am running at night in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I’ve seen summer nights cooler than this.

My stomach and guts are still absolutely killing me. I think I may just give up food. It seems I only have stomach and GI problems after I eat. If I give up food, I reason that the pain will just go away. I’ve been to a doctor to have my issues checked out. They scoped me from top and bottom and found nothing wrong. I think not eating may be the best course of action.

Well maybe not entirely stop eating. Perhaps I can try a liquid diet. I can probably subsist on Ensure, Pedialyte and other liquid meals. Maybe I just don’t like solid food. If I give up solid food I won’t have to worry about getting bits of food stuck in my teeth and I can give up flossing. I always hated to floss.

I so blew it today. I refused to get out of bed when my alarm clock went off. I kept telling myself that I didn’t want to go for a run and that all I wanted to do was sleep. That is what I wanted to do at the time, but I am so regretting it now. I finally did pull myself out of bed, but then I took my sweet time getting ready. By the time I was finally ready to get out the door, it was almost 7am. My kids’ school had Parents as Reading Partners today, so if I wanted to go to that it was too late to get in a run and be able to get ready in time.

I asked my daughter if she wanted to go for a run with me this evening and she said she would. Hopefully I will get that in. However, it is supposed to rain all day starting late morning and I doubt this will happen. It was beautiful outside this morning. 60 degrees and calm in the middle of January – perfect weather for a run. I am on the train now to work and the only thing I can think of was the fact I should have done my run. I would be feeling so much better now if I had gone. Right now I am feeling depressed and anxious. I haven’t done anything in 3 days now. I’ve been suffering from a bit of a stomach virus since Wednesday morning so I took the last two days off. Today will make 3 if I don’t get in my run tonight. My stomach is still bothering me though, so who knows how I will feel tonight. If it keeps feeling like this I am going to leave work early.

I don’t know what it is with me lately. I don’t know why I am struggling to get out. I am like a gigantic boulder that has stopped rolling. It is so hard to get it moving again and gathering momentum. It takes such energy to get it moving that it seems impossible. Once I get the momentum going though, I know it will be easy to continue. I just can’t seem to gather it.

I had my best run of the year today. I can say that, because that is the most applicable way to describe it. It was really very good otherwise I might have described it as the worst run of the year. I ran with Larry around Greenwood Cemetery and then back through Prospect Park. It was raining, but the temperature was mild and the conditions were quite pleasant despite the rain. This is the second New Year’s Day in a row I ran with Larry, which is the start of an annual tradition as far as I am concerned.

I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to go this morning, but as we crept up on 6 miles, I definitely felt like going longer. However, we were both doing the annual Polar Bear New Year’s Day dip, so we had to go home to get ready for that. I really couldn’t believe that I was going to do it, especially since I’ve been having such trouble with the cold. However, Larry’s wife Kathleen promised her famous Hot Toddy’s and Chili back at their house for all dippers. It was something that is far as I am concerned is worth the suffering of a little cold water.

As a special treat, my daughter decided to come with me. I was very happy to have her along to watch the spectacle. I figure if she comes to enough of these events, she is eventually going to want to do one. Today she was the official event photographer. It was just fun having her with me and laughing at all of the funnily dressed people. We got a picture of ourselves with King Triton.

While we waiting around for the dip to begin we threw a football around the beach. I hadn’t done that in a very long time. It was just a lot of fun to be hanging on the beach with a bunch of friends. The fact that it was the dead of winter and we were about to plunge into the cold Atlantic made it all the better.

When the time came to go in the water, everyone ran at the same time and took the icy plunge. Everyone was yelling, screaming and splashing. I am not sure how I did it, but I got in and dunked my head underwater. Everyone from our group did not just one time, but three. My daughter was waiting for me every time I came out of the water laughing, smiling and taking pictures.

After three times of plunging into the water, we dried off, dressed and set to cleaning up our little beach campsite. We didn’t hang around much longer after that and headed back to Larry and Kathleen’s house for post dip festivities. The Hot Toddy and Chili was everything it promised to be. A perfect way to warm up after the cold swim. I was content to stay there all afternoon, but I soon had to leave for New Year’s dinner at my in-laws. It was a busy day and a good start to the New Year.