Of Busy and Sickness...

Well got my second run in since the ATM, and it felt pretty good. I have been coping with the nastiness of the head cold / draining phlegm / hacking cough, so I just took a little time off to rest / heal / outprocess (moving in a few days to Kansas), so I have been just a little busy, but nothing beats a good run.

Nothing to complain about, but it was a bit slower, and colder, than last weeks run, but there comes a time that you realize that running isn't "just exercise", but really therapeutic. It is for me. Just nice to go out and run, without ipod, and just think, sing songs to yourself, or just whatever you want to, like zone out. I dig zoning out, except in high traffic areas, that is NOT fun.

But I used to run in college for a D1 team, cross country in the fall, track in the spring (winter was indoor season, but just as a "club" team) so I started to think of it as a "job", a way to pay the "bills" of school and kinda fell out of love with it. It wasn't until I was a sophomore that I got to run "different" events, like the 3000m steeplechase. Now that was fun!

First a little about steeplechase, if you never have seen it before. You get a bunch of tall, lanky runners, give them 7 laps on a track, but stick 4 36" hurdles (plus 1 36" water jump, see above) on the track and watch the chaos that ensues. Note the form of the first two runners; not too bad, jump up and push off the rail with your lead foot and try to get as far across the water hazard as you can. Third guy, not so much, but does add to the fun! For the rest of the hurdles, you try to hurdle them much like a hurdler, but they don't fall over like the thin hurdles, since they are 4x4 or 6x6 beams.

Well, now take me, I'm only 5'4", not the prescribed "tall and lanky", more like "short and tank-y", so my 64", 140lbs frame was at a major disadvantage, but hey, it was different and fun. My last steeplechase was at the Duke Relays and I was in the 2nd heat, and for 4 laps, leading the race. It looked like a short guy being chased by 16 6 foot and over dudes, kind of comical I guess. Well, the thing you don't want to do when leading is fall. Like I did. In to the water. Yeah, I was that guy. I managed to zone out and "wrong foot" my jump on the water barrier, hit my trail knee and flip into the water. To make matters worse, I put my hand down to try to get up, and was stepped on. Hard. With spikes. After the pack left me in my water grave, I got out and started to run a bit, but my knee was starting to swell and my hand was POURING blood all over their nice track, so I was flagged down by two Duke trainers and they started to work on me. Ouch!

But the moral of the story is, switch up your workouts every once in a while, try something different and don't always zone out, it might come back to bite you! Have a great Friday everyone!