You Know You’re Really Sick During The Marathon Taper When

1. You get out of bed only to wonder when you get back to bed.

2. You’ve been off the road for so long that you forgot how soreness felt.

3. Food has no taste, just different degrees of blandness.

4. You're out of breath just walking fast to catch the bus.

5. Instead of preparing a victory dance, you make contingency plans for a graceful DNF.

6. Your clinical assessment of patients in the hospital is strictly based on how sick they are compared to you.

7. You go on the treadmill for a good 5 at marathon pace and you (literally) run off the treadmill!

8. Instead of making plans for running sub 3, you wonder how you’re ever going to stay awake for 3 hours.

9. You realize running a marathon the way you are would make an excellent episode of Survivor

10. You consider skipping out on the Boston Marathon as a real possibility.

Bonus – You feel so sick so close to the biggest race of your life that you wonder if someone somewhere is trying to tell you something…

Office Conversation

Colleague 1: Geez, Lam, you look like crap…
Me: Yeah, I got sick over the weekend. Don’t ask! And I’m supposed to run my marathon in two weeks…
Colleague 2: I can’t run a mile when I’m happy and well-caffeinated…
Me: Well, I hope I get better soon, I don’t want to go to Boston with fever and chills…
Colleague 1: Oh, the race is in Boston?
Me: Yeah, it’s the Boston Marathon. Don’t you remember me talking about it practically all last week?
Colleague 2: Well, if you don’t feel well, I think you should skip it.
Me: Skip what?
Colleague 2: Your ten mile marathon in Boston.
Me: But it’s the Boston Marathon and it’s 26.2 miles, not 10.
Colleague 1: Isn’t there plenty of races in New York? Why are you going all the way to Boston to run? What…like our roads here aren’t good enough for you?
Colleague 2: I agree. What’s the difference between a marathon here and a marathon there? They’re all the same anyway…

I couldn’t tell whether my head hurt more from the fever and chills or from being a party to this conversation. Luckily, a patient of mine came in and I had to leave.

Boston Marathon Training Update - Week 15

Taper week #1 was quite eventful for me as I had to skip a speed workout early in the week because my left Achilles’ felt extremely tight after the last long run and I had surgery late in the week. What, you didn’t know I was having surgery last week? Well, neither did I. When I went to the dentist for a mild toothache last Wednesday, I was told that I really bad infections in a couple of teeth that I had previous work done. As a result, I found myself getting oral surgery under general anesthesia the very next day. Let me tell you, it wasn’t very pleasant, and the sedatives made me looney and nauseous for twenty four hours after, but it got gone. Thankfully, so did most of my miles planned for this week…

Week #15 (3/30-4/5)

What I Planned:

Speed Interval Workout: 8 total miles with 4 x 1 mile at 5:51 pace

Recovery Run: 6 miles at easy pace

Marathon Paced Run: 12 miles at 6:52 pace

Weekend Long Run: 16 miles at long run pace

Total week 15 distance planned: 42 miles

What I Ran:

Wed – GA Treadmill Run: 6.2 miles at 6:52 pace

Fri – Marathon Paced Run: 12.2 miles at 6:48 pace

Fri – Cooldown Jog: 1.0 mile at 7:31 pace

Sun – Weekend Long Run: 16.2 miles at 7:18 pace

Total week 15 distance: 35.6 miles; avg pace – 7:04 min/mi

How I Ran:

After resting, icing, and stretching my sore left Achilles’ on Monday and Tuesday, I got back to the swing of things on Wednesday. As I’ve mentioned before, I wanted to get in a longer run that day, but since I left work much later than I wanted and found the city in the midst of a thunderstorm, I scratched my plans and did some steady miles on the treadmill instead. I had surgery on Thursday afternoon, which killed any chances for a decent workout that day (since I had to be NPO for six to eight hours prior to the procedure). It rained again the whole day on Friday, threatening my last marathon paced workout. Luckily, in between the pitter-patters, there was a two hour break in the late afternoon where I was able to squeeze in my run. I was so thankful for the fortunate turn of events that even though the effort was hard and the breathing a bit labored due to the warm temps (high 50’s) and high humidity (93%), I didn’t dare complain or draw comparisons to previous workouts done at this pace. I got my miles in, met my goal, didn’t get injured, and allowed myself just to be content with that.

Sunday, on the best weather day of the week, I visited my folks in Whitestone Queens and took my running shoes with me. Because I wanted to enjoy this last long(ish) run without getting too worked up about pacing, I chose a calm, lakeshore trail with some tack-on miles in Long Island for my purposes. This was my first time running so far into the neighborhood so it was more than a bit exciting. Besides the massive hills that greeted me at the beginning and end of my adventures, I enjoyed very bit of the 16 miles I did yesterday. Not only was the weather picture-perfect and lots of families were out picnicking and barbecuing by the trail where I was running, but almost every runner I passed by either had a wave, a nod, or a smile for me. The highlight of my run came when I ran through a section of Little Neck, Long Island and while meandering, found myself at the head of an avenue that was aptly named “Marathon Parkway”. I was tickled senseless by this discovery that I spent a couple of miles just running back and forth on this long secluded highway. To anyone who saw me running there, I must have looked like a complete freak! Needless to say, it was a beautiful and glorious run for me, and I’m sure I’ll be back (with a camera this time) to pay my respects when I’m done with Boston.

Unfortunately, my giddiness was tempered somewhat when I woke up this morning coughing and sneezing. Yes, although I would love to say it ain’t so, it seems like the taper cold has struck again. Apparently, even doctors are not immune.

Have a great week, everyone.