dog racing

It is like a cruel dog race with only two greyhounds: my legs and my lungs. And the bets aren't on the winner, but the loser: which one will give out first? Will it be the legs with the cramps and shin splints, or maybe a return of the runner's knee? Or will it be the lungs, closing up slowly but surely? I can put the lungs at almost even odds, these days, but the longshot legs did win one heat today.

My schedule said 14 miles. This was doable, I thought. I'd done 12 last week, how bad could 14 be? Well, lemme tell ya. It can be bad. Unlike last week, my lungs did not cooperate. My legs did not cooperate. Like Beast, my form was off and the run was a struggle. It should have been a good run; it was sunny and not too cold (no worse than what winter's supposed to be). The wind was pretty gruesome. It blew in high gear much of the time; a trade-off for waiting until the sun came out, I suppose. The windchill when I ran was supposedly 14 degrees, but in my three layers of shirts, two layers of pants, and regular hat-and-gloves routine, I was quite comfortable. I didn't get chilled until I was slowed to a walk.

And that's the essential problem. The walking. It isn't training my LEGS to do anything! But my LUNGS are no better than they were a couple of weeks ago, despite my adherance to drug therapies, physical therapies, and (mostly) to my running schedule. I am bringing up more junk than ever and it has me concerned. I'll give the Bactrim a chance, I guess, before I start to get really worried. Fact is, when my lungs do cooperate, my legs are more than up to the challenge of a half-marathon right now. But how much longer will that last??

I cut the run short. In the middle of the first loop of the park, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the run, no matter how badly I wanted it. I simply couldn't breathe, couldn't jog more than a 1/4 mile at a time, even walking fast was leaving me breathless. Coughing frequently had me bent over, hands-on-knees. WARNING: NEXT PARAGRAPH NOT PRETTY

<gross> At one point, I sniffed hard, snorted, and hocked out. I looked down and the snot had bright red blood in it! Up to that point, I hadn't realized my nose was bleeding from the exertion of the last coughing fit. Here I am leaving green, white, and red all over the park; Italy would be proud. Just before my shower, later, I looked in the mirror and was shocked. Like some sick Japanese porn, my face was flecked in dried blood, spit, and sputum streaks. I simply couldn't feel them happen in the cold! </gross>

I did half the run; 6.7 miles, probably 4 of that walking. Still, I'm not as short on mileage this week as the last couple weeks of December, so that might indicate improvement.