As the 'mill turns

I ran today for the first time in two weeks. I usually run pretty regularly, but gunk-filled sinuses haven't enjoyed the idea of jostling. Still, I had to try it today.

Before Sinus SuperBug (BSSB), in the beginning of January, I was going out for "relaxing" (yeah, I need to be commited) 1 1/2 hour runs on the weekends. I've run marathons before, but I'm not training for one now -- it's nice to go out for a long run if you feel like it, with no pressure if you don't.

Then, as I hypothesize I contracted SSB toward the end of January, something suddenly happened. I was out for a 1:40 run... I had run "out" 50 minutes on the Sammamish River Trail. When I turned around to come "back", I had a horrible thought: "gee, I feel like walking for a bit." My body had run down. I walked most of the way back. And it had started to pour rain. Waaaa. And this continued over the weeks to follow, until I couldn't run more than 15 minutes without wanting to stop. ???? I only attribute it to SSB. And while I've run since then, I've had to engineer in some walking breaks so as not to poop out entirely, so I can make it 45 minutes. Sigh.

And this is what I did today, though it started out pouring, so I drove to the gym treadmill. I have a short attention span, so this is really tough for me. I'll run, stare into space for what seems like a really long time, then I'll look back at the timer, and... 3 minutes.

But! I had a CD player, so I listened to the last Rush studio album (Vapor Trails) while I pounded the rubber.

And my gym has three TV's in front of the cardio equipment, so there's usually something to stare at. But today, the middle TV had infomercials -- one for a juicer, one for synthetic HGH which promised to improve your entire life, and one for a cleaning solution. The right TV had a Mariners/Royals pre-season game, which was rather boring, since the M's were trouncing KC. And on the left TV....... the constant CNN scrolling of the Terry Schiavo case. Tragic, ironic, I'm tired of hearing about it. And the irony being: the battle is about a feeding tube, while it's bulimia that got her into this condition in the first place? Hm.

Note to self to create a living will asap. That way, my "millions" of hard-earned government dollars can go to my loved ones. Heck, it's better than sending it back to the government, eh...

I won't say the run was easy (esp given the lack of mental stimulation) but I did it. The first time back is always hard; you have to remind yourself that you like doing it, because if today were any barometer, I'd consider running "too hard" and just give up.

Anyway, tally ho, and off into the rain to pick up a new round of antibiotics that hopefully will finally kill of SSB.