run

Free Run, Day 17

Tuesday, October 24th, 2023

Yes, dear reader, I’ve caught up with you. Or you’ve caught up with me. One of us has caught up with the other, and I am posting this last week live. Wild, I know, but if this blog has taught us anything, it’s that I will get you used to a routine and then shake it up because who doesn’t love a little chaos in their predetermined lives, amiright? 

So, I’m still a little bit sick. This cold has been wild, and it has come in weird waves. Like, for example, I’ve had only one day of every symptom. Meaning, last Wednesday, I had the cat scratching sore throat and was sure that I was going to have that for a few days. Thursday, woke up, sore throat is gone, but bring on the mucus. So I geared up for that for a few days, but then Friday, mucus was gone. Then over the weekend we had a faucet for a nose and Monday brought with it crippling sinus pressure in my face, but like, it’s all only lasted a day. And this whole time I’ve been testing negative for Covid, so you tell me what’s going on. Seriously. Tell me. I’ve never had a cold like this before in my life. 

Today, the plague is sitting heavily on my lungs. There is stuff in there I can feel rattling around, hot, I know, I’m so attractive, and I was thinking about skipping my run today because one needs lungs to breathe and such and I don’t know if you know, but you breathe a lot when you run, it’s true. But then I was like, you know what? It might help some of the shit in there to like, dislodge. Or it might make me feel worse. I don’t know, but we love a not-fully-formed-or-thought-through plan, don’t we. 

I’m going to set a timer for 25 minutes, and I’m not going to do more than that. Even if I feel good, I’m not going to do any more than that. As god as my witness, she said holding a carrot up against a orange and smoke-ridden sky, I’ll not do more than 25 miutes. 

You know, it’s a funny thing, too, because my friends will tell you that I’m a little bit witchy. I don’t know if you believe in all of that, but in my circle, we do. And I had this thought back in August, and I shoudln’t have even thought it because now here we are, but I thought to myself “Gee, I hope I don’t get sick right before the 5K. That would suck.” 

🙄😶🙄😶🙄

Why is it that the powers that be never hear me when I think, “Gee, I hope I win the mega millions this week,” huh?! Why is that never the one that comes to fruition?! Why, instead, am I left with mucus in my lungs and a sore back from coughing at night?! WHY I ASK YOU?! 

But you know what? It’s not for me to know. It’s not for any of us to know. Who really understands why the universe behaves the way she does. All we can do is just, like, roll along through it. That’s all. And hydrate. We can control how hydrated we are. Sometimes. Not always. Even that can be at the whim of the universe. Ok. Enough of this. I’m finishing this smoothie and then I’m going for 25 minutes, maybe less, depending on the lungs and how they’re breathing. 

POST-RUN MORTUM

Time Running: 25 minutes

Distance Achieved: 1.7 miles

Tunage: Mylo Xyloto

A fine run. I walked the first three minutes of it, I walked the last three minutes of it. I stopped twice, once to stretch a weird pang in my inner right thigh, the other to tie my shoe. My lungs are….feeling something. Nothing bad, but I think the dislodging process has begun and I am chunky. I hated writing that as much as you hated reading it, so we’re all doing great. 

It’s funny too, the last couple of days, even when I haven’t been on a run, I’ve seen so many more runners. You know when you buy a new car, or a new anything, really, and suddenly you’re so attuned to every other ‘that thing’ that is around you? I feel like that’s me with running and runners. I’m attuned to you all now, may god help us all. Also, I’m pretty sure the marathon is happening soon. Yeah, Google tells me the TCS NYC Marathon is on November 5th, so no doubt everyone is gearing up for that. But not this bish. And why, you may ask? Because I’m not ready for a marathon yet. GROWTH AGAIN IN REAL TIME. Can you imagine that? Me, Allyson Marie Bonino, admitting that she isn’t ready for a task!? Can you even imagine it. Well, you can because it just happened. 

Oh, there was also a moment today where I was running across the Riverside Drive overpass and the gorgeous hickory and applewood smells of smoked meats wafted up from Dinosaur BBQ and enveloped me in a cloud of tantalizing deliciousness. It was a beautiful thing. And now, at 11:02 in the morning, I find myself wanting brisket. Mmm. 

Anyway. Let’s talk goals for the rest of this week. First and foremost: try not to further inflame the leg. This also means that in my downtime, I am going to stretch, theragun, PT the fuck out of my body, soak, and, dare I say it, rest. As much as I can. Secondly, I want to stick to my original training for these remaining two runs. Meaning, no hills, no sprints. I’ll try to pick a course for myself that has a bit of hills, but no strict hill training, and I mean, duh, I’ll incorporate some sprints and power tens, but again, I’m focusing on the distance and time and nothing crazy, while also honoring my first point of not further inflaming the leg. Thirdly, and this one is really out of my control, but I’m going to try to get better health-wise. Outside of the rest and hydrating and multivitamins and supplements, there really isn’t much I can do, but I’m going to try to will myself to be better because I have been working too hard and too long for a fucking cold to come in at the last moment and fuck this up. I rebuke it. I denounce it. I say not today, satan. Not to-fucking-day. 

What else. Hmm. Honestly, I can’t really think of anything. Outside of the brisket. That would be phenomenal right now. But alas, I am off to sling espresso where there is no brisket to be found. Alright, love you all. 

T-minus five days. We got this.