Things I’ve Noticed When I Don’t Run

I have been on the shelf for over a month now with a sprained ankle. I believe since February 9. My last basketball injury forced me to miss a race, but I’m determined to make this one, mainly because the medal is dope. I’ve got a month and a half left. I changed my distance from the full to the half marathon and I’ll limp all 13 miles if I have to for that medal.

Since I haven’t been running, here are a five things that have happened, a few which didn’t happen during my last running break.

1. Acne has started showing up on my forehead. Every morning I’ve got a new one to pop. Running decreases stress, while stress contributes to acne. During this break I’ve been preparing to publish my first novel, Little Big Brother. Makes sense.
2. I’m actually dreaming and they’ve been crazy. This started a week ago, along with terrible sleep. I never dream. Never. But this week I’ve dreamed about baking a chubby kid a cake, eating someone’s face and Laura speaking only in rhymes.
3. Sleepy. It’s harder to wake up and harder to stay awake at night.
4. All of my muscles are tight. I’m trying to stretch and work out, but it’s just not working.
5. Lack of appetite. I love to eat, but over the past few weeks there have been days I don’t eat breakfast or lunch because I’m just not hungry.

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I Used to Run

Journal Entry: December 19, 2018

Another good day. I took a nap and didn’t feel guilty about it. Laura is sick and with marathon training starting next week I’m really hoping I don’t catch it. After missing the half in September, I don’t want to think about missing any training. I stayed up later than usual last night. That’s usually a good indicator of how I’m feeling. I go to bed when I get tired, instead of looking at my watch and thinking about what I have going on tomorrow.

Run report: 2.95 miles at 10:05 pace

Journal Entry: December 18, 2018

Day 2, we made it! I’ve felt fantastic the past couple of days. I cleaned a majority of the house Sunday and it didn’t even feel like a chore. I haven’t been smothering myself in thoughts. Make a decision and go with it.

We’re looking at selling our house. We bought ours for $80,000 and the house beside us sold for nearly $200,000. They are similar so we’re hoping to make a lot of money, buy land and a tiny house. All I need is wifi.

Most of my running lately has been easy, just biding time until it’s time to start training. Yesterday I went for 6.16 miles at a 10:38 pace.

December 17, 2018

Another day, another blog post. Another blog post, another format. I’ve wanted to start a journal for years, and every so often I’d write something at the end of the day. Most recently was last week. The entry before that was at the beginning of this year. Maybe making it public will keep me on it, although my food accountability post did little to change my diet. Oh, well.

I’ve started running consistently again over the past couple of weeks after missing about two months due to illness and a foot injury. About that illness. I went backpacking a month ago when I was already struggling with a cold that had been lingering for several weeks. Just wouldn’t go away. So I went backpacking with a friend on what I’m sure was the first freeze of the winter and came home with a sinus infection. My first one and it was miserable.

Back to running. Next week I start training for my second marathon. The same course that kicked my ass last year. I missed my last half-marathon because of my injury and illness, so I’m more than ready to race. I’m aiming for a 4 hour time. I didn’t have a goal last year, but my soul carried my body across the finish line in 5:30.

I dealt with shin splints when I ran on consecutive days for the first time in a while last month, but a 5 mile turkey trot seemed to get everything loose again. I bought some KT Tape but haven’t used much of it.

Here’s hoping there is another post tomorrow.