Yes, it has been more than a month since I last wrote here. The entire month of February didn’t see a single post from me — the first time that’s happened since I started this blog a year ago. And unfortunately, it wasn’t just the keyboard that I neglected last month; my running shoes didn’t get much action, either. I ran fewer miles in February than in any month since I returned to running almost two years ago.
Bronchitis. Viral bronchitis, to be exact (which means: there’s no magic antibiotic to cure it). I’m glad I went to the doctor so I could put a name to what I had. Because saying I have “a really bad cold” (which is what I would have called it had the doctor not diagnosed the bronchitis; symptomatically, it was no different from bad colds I’d had before) just doesn’t seem all that impressive.
For more than three weeks, I sneezed, I coughed, I felt completely wiped out. Mostly, I coughed. Oh yeah, and I lost about five pounds, just by blowing my nose. The meds I got from the doctor helped the symptoms a little, but the stuff that was supposed to help me sleep at night turned out to be the best caffeine substitute I’ve ever found.
Gradually, the symptoms faded away. Even now, there’s still some congestion in there, some dust in the ductwork, so to speak, but it’s not much more than what I usually have over the winter months. Finally, 18 days into February, I was able to do some tentative running.
Then I wrenched my back. It was the simple act of pulling a bag of chicken breasts out of the freezer that did it. I felt a strong twinge, and then almost immediately my whole lower back started to seize up. That happened a week ago yesterday, and, although in the past, things like that have faded away after a few days, this time the pain has hung on, every time I sit for more than a couple of minutes, or — horrors! — stand up after sitting for a while. Needless to say, the running shoes are back in the closet, getting lonely. I’m hopeful that this will clear up and I’ll get back to running in few days, but I’m not so sure.
Anyway, That inactive February means that any hope I had of running the Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon again this year are shot. The race is only 15 days away, and 15 is coincidentally the total number of miles I’ve run in the last five weeks. Oh well, it was fun to think about, but it’s just not happening this year.
