My (Former?) Running Partners

This won't be my most cheerful of blog entries. I have two bits of news to share that make me disappointed and sad.

The disappointment comes in the form of my now 8th grade daughter. She goes back to school tomorrow (we start LATE around here) and begins her cross-country season next Monday (Sept. 10th.) Why would I be disappointed about that? Because she ran exactly 1 time (that's O-N-E) this summer. I obviously didn't force her to run (she still has a volatile love/hate relationship with running and I don't want her to resent it...or me), but I strongly encouraged her to even run just briefly and slowly to maintain some sort of base. Nope, not interested. The teen years are upon us, and so is the accompanying attitude and lack of motivation. I'm sure she'll still have a good XC season, but she'll be unnecessarily sore (and out of shape) for the first couple of weeks.

The sad news is, to me and my family, hard to cope with. Our 1-year old lab, Apollo, is enduring some sort of pain that affects his back, neck and legs. He's barely able to walk and has very low energy. We rushed him to the animal hospital yesterday. They drew blood (we'll get results back tonight or tomorrow), but the doc said she wasn't quite sure what was wrong with him. It's nothing orthopedic, but it could be muscular and/or neurological in nature. He possibly could have damaged his neck/spine while playing roughly at the kennel while we were on vacation, or he could have some sort of virus that's affecting his mobility or, (worse yet) a disease. Our girls are pretty upset (Natalie in particular). He's on pain meds, which seem to be helping some, but he still moves like an arthritic old dog. Obviously, he won't be my running partner again for a while. We haven't even walked him for over a week, since this all started with a slight limp before it got really bad yesterday, when he could hardly walk.

I'll post the test results and/or updates here as we get them.

I hate to end on a down note, but work is beckoning, so I better get busy.

Happy running!

Nookachamps 5k

Before I elaborate a bit, here's what I wrote in my Daily Mile post about the race:

Cold, rain, sleet, snow, wind. That pretty much sums it up. I was literally drenched to the bone, from head to toe. I was humbled this morning. Did not have a good run at all. Went out at 7:23, followed by the same time for mile 2, then my lungs & throat tightened up to where I couldn't breathe well. Slowed down for a 7:36 mile 3 (23:13 finish). Aside from pacing my daughter, I've never run a 5k this slow. Even though it was miserable and I couldn't breathe, I expected to run faster than this. Perhaps 12 miles of running per week isn't enough? ;-)
Next up will probably be the Smelt Run 5k in La Conner on Feb. 25th (unless I retire. Only half-joking).

It took me about 20 minutes in my truck after the race (with the heat all the way up) to thaw out, even with fresh, dry clothes. Since it's about an hour's drive home from where the race was (Mount Vernon, WA), I had some time for reflection. I concluded that, even though I've gotten back into running (after a LONG fight with an injury) in a restricted and minimal way, I just don't feel like a runner right now. I know that just getting out for a run — period — defines me as a runner, but I'm so blasted goal-driven and time-focused that when things don't go well, it's hard to accept.

Running and I have a one-way co-dependent relationship (I tend to depend on it, but it certainly doesn't depend on me). Right now, I'm not particularly happy with this relationship. I've tried to slowly bump up the mileage and intensity, but more mileage right now doesn't agree with my injury. So I'm sort of stuck in a "Runner's Pergatory," where I can run just enough to whet my appetite, but not nearly enough to perform the way I did prior to the injury.

So...what to do. I'll tell you one thing I'm doing immediately, and that's taking next week off from running, entirely. I don't want an activity that has brought me so much pleasure the last 28 years (well, the times I wasn't injured) to be something I dread or fight against. I'll do some rides on my bike trainer and lift some weights next week, along with a few dog walks...but the running shoes will go untouched.

Speaking of the dog, I'm still suspicious that I may be allergic to him. I wheeze a lot when I breathe deeply, and I've really had some respiratory issues during the last several runs. Might have to visit my doctor.

As far as effort goes, maybe I'll back off during my next race (Smelt Run 5k, Feb. 25) instead of fighting it. I'm nowhere near being able to bust out a PR, so it might be best to run the first few 5k's this year more as training runs. Can I really do that and not push? I don't know. But today's race unfortunately left a foul taste in my mouth and, like I said, I don't want an experience like that to define what running means to me.