Week 13- Listen to your Body

I should have known something freaky would happen in week 13. First of all, winter finally arrived in Arizona. It spent the first few days acting like an Angry Washington though- cold rain, high winds, cold temps. I was diligent though, and went out to do my runs. Wrapped up to keep dry, I found the rain really didn't bother me, but I also found the odd phenomenon of wind direction.

I would be running into the wind- which is awful by the way, and I have realized my least favorite thing about running- and my path would allow me to turn around, be it a loop, or rounding a corner etc. Expecting to now have my dreaded windy foe at my back... it would still be in my face. I do not understand how wind can blow in opposite directions simultaneously. Grrr, arrgh.

That however was not my real problem this week. My real problem this week came Tuesday morning before I even braved the elements when The Daughter said, "Dad, I have a sore throat." I was doomed.

By Saturday, I had not only the sore throat, but the stuffy head and the frequent trips to the Euphemism Room (I don't think I need to explore that facet any further). So, my soul is telling me to get out and run anyway- I had 16-18 scheduled for the weekend. The body is using the bathroom and large amounts of phlegm to tell me otherwise. So, the brain has to step in and moderate.

The Body likes to complain you see. While the Soul is yelling "run, run," the Body likes to make excuses up not to. "I'm tired," "my ankle is touchy," and "You hate running, remember?" among them. The Brain has to come in and cast judgment, and nine times out of ten finds in favor of the soul ("You don't really hurt that badly, keep running"). This time though, the Brain found the body had a point.

So that was this week's lesson. In order to get over this crud so I can keep running, I had to lay off to rest up. I will see how Tuesday feels, and if not, I will wait until Wednesday. Luckily I am in my taper time, where you start backing off to let all your muscles heal up before the big race. I don't want to lose momentum though, and I don't want to be still hacking up lung butter the day of the race. Ah, the delicate balance that is winter running.

You win this time body- but you still have that 26.2 waiting out there. Quit complaining...