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October 13, 2004
Anticlimatic Weekend
Wickham Invitational
On Saturday morning I woke up and drove to the Wickham Park Invitational in CT. I met one of the students who I am currently coaching for an 11-12 mile run. I was feeling incredibly horrible. I was drained and felt my cold/flu symptoms were approaching. I was hoping I'd feel better once I started running but instead I found myself looking at my watch wondering how much longer we'd be running. The pace was pretty easy so I did not bother to stop running. It was too crowded at the park to run in the park due to all of the races. Instead we ran along a bike path into East Hartford and through Manchester. The company was great and answered all of my probing questions. I was feeling too tired to be my usual talkative self so instead I just asked a lot of questions that required long answers. When we finished after an hour and a half I was wiped. I went to my car to change and get ready to watch the races.
I saw most of the Varsity races. The highlight of the day was watching my nephew run in his first varsity race ever. He is just a sophomore and made the Varsity team for this race. He did a great job and ran 18.45. I know he can run even faster the next time he runs the course. It was really fun to watch him run on the same course I have run so many times in my past. Getting a chance to watch my nephew run in a few cross-country races was a huge high light of my return to the east coast after living in CA. I was very proud to see him run. My parents, his grandparents, his father, his stepmother, and his mother, and one of his uncles were all there to watch. It was great. While I was at the meet I got to talk to my old high school coach at Mercy High School and meet his team. I really enjoyed meeting them. They have a great front-runner this year that just converted from soccer to cross-country. When my nephew's race was over I had to dash back to the campus in MA to work for a few hours in the gym shutting the building down. I was disappointed I had to rush off but relieved that I could get some rest.
I worked for a few hours in the gym and then went home for some hot soup. Once I finished my soup, around 8 p.m. I tried to do some reading for my classes but I was falling asleep. I decided to call it a night at 8:30 p.m. The earliest I have gone to bed in ages. I was toying with the idea of doing a trail race in Monroe, MA the next day but decided to wait until the morning to make my decision.
Lazy Sunday
I did not wake up until 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. It felt really good to sleep so long. However, I was discouraged to realize that my body felt just as achy and tired on Sunday as it did Saturday. I decided not to do the trail race. I put on some running cloths and decided to do a few hours of work before I tried to go for a run. While I was doing some work in my lab area I made the decision not to run for the day. I was beat and felt a run would be counterproductive.
I n the afternoon I went to the Middletown Regatta race to watch my roommate row in a singles race. I sat on the dock in Cromwell, Ct for about 2 hours watching all of the rowers get into and out of their boats. I thought it was interesting which teams were super organized and could get in and out quickly vs. which teams struggled just to get the boat in the water. I thought there must be a correlation with this relationship and performance.
In order to watch the Regatta I had to get someone to work for me at my job at the gym. I made a poor decision and asked my room mate if he could work for me. Little did I know that he was not officially trained yet? Tomorrow I have to talk to my supervisor about this. I am annoyed that I made such a foolish decision but I know part of it was that I was feeling so drained I was trying to make my day as simple as possible. I wanted to be in CT as early as possible because in addition to the Regatta races I wanted to be at the airport when my sister and her new husband arrived from their honeymoon. Of course, they did not arrive until 9:15 p.m. so I easily could have worked and then met them but I was hoping it would all work out. I think it still will I will just have to face the facts about procedures to take when getting a sub to work for you.
Anyway, the Regatta races turned out to be very relaxing. After the races I showed my friend downtown Middletown my hometown. I took her to my favorite coffee shop in downtown Middletown and ordered my favorite hot drink, white-hot cocoa. We then went to get some dinner at a very good Thai restaurant in Middletown. I had some hot soup, which made my throat feel very good.
In the evening I did get a chance to meet my sister and brother in law at the airport. I was over excited to see them because I realized how much I missed having close family live near me. We stayed up pretty late talking about Aruba and CA. They had a great time on their honeymoon but said they were ready to return to CA. I asked them if they had room for me in one of the suitcases! I do plan to go back and visit over the winter holidays, which will be nice.
Errand Day
On Monday morning I was hoping to get up and convince my sister and brother in law to do a three-mile run with me. They were in a rush to get to breakfast and go to the airport. I decided I wanted to maximize all my time with them and canceled my a.m. run. We all had breakfast at a diner which was nice and then my Mother and I dropped them off at the airport. I was really sad to see them leave.
I spent the entire afternoon shopping with my Mother. She is a very early Christmas shopper and was looking for gifts for everyone in my family. My legs were aching from standing around in stores all day. It's funny because I can be at a meet all day and not feel my legs ache the way they ache after being in a store all day. I was pretty good and did not mention the time until it was 5 p.m. At that point I told my Mother we should head home so I could run and she could get a break before dinner. I was relieved that she admitted she was also tired.
When we got back I did a quick 5-mile run. I actually felt pretty good. My sore throat was gone and my legs felt strong. I ran my first mile in 7.40 even though I thought I was running 9 minute pace. It was growing dark during my run and I think I picked up the pace every mile. I ran an extended apartment loop near my parent's house. The air was cool and crisp and the leaves are really spectacular this weekend. I was really sad that I had not spent anytime at all over the weekend on the trails, as that was one of my main goals. But I was happy that my body was feeling better.
Dinner was ready when I got home, homemade pasta, which I enjoyed with my parents. My Mother and I then sent off some Fall Treats to my two sisters in CA because we were missing them and had them on my mind. I had to spend the rest of the evening working on recruiting letters and meet analysis reports. I stayed up pretty late and decided I had to cancel my intended plans to visit the Storrs campus on Tuesday morning.
Back to Normal
I slept in on Tuesday morning and canceled my trip to work in the lab on the Uconn campus. I was hoping to fix some books in the morning and do a lunchtime run with a friend in the area. I realized I had too much to do to squeeze all of that in and instead did some work on the computer at my parent's house before heading up to school. I ran a 3.5-mile Poplar Street loop run in the morning to wake myself up and get myself back into a normal running routine.
Over the weekend I made two marathon training plans for two of my brothers and one sister in law. All three of these individuals are new to running in this decade. One of my brothers who lives in AZ has to quit smoking before he starts his program so his program starts with a 6 week walking plan. I am really inspired by my brother’s desires to begin and stick to these programs. I feel really lucky that they asked me to be a part of their goal. I want to support them in anyway that I can in their journey towards fitness and hopefully enlightenment. Originally they wanted to do the Rock and Roll marathon in San Diego. However, we just realized that my sister in law would still be teaching in June so we need to find a July or August marathon in AZ or CA for them to run. Hopefully we will find one that will work for them.
While I was making their month-by-month plans I decided it was time for me to make up my own 1-year plan. Right now I am in the process of writing out a plan for myself. On a short-term basis I want to get back into my training plan and organize my training. My roommates have been buying ice for me to begin to ice my quad on a regular basis. Another graduate student is helping me to work on my lower stomach muscles so that I can gain more strength in that area. My plan is to have a program written by Sunday.
This afternoon I met the cross-country team and ran for an hour with them on the Amherst bike path. We ran a lollipop course, running out for about 3.5 miles and then doing a loop around a big cornfield and heading back on the bike path. I felt pretty good and enjoyed catching up with the women on the team. In the evening I was able to lift for about an hour. I was pretty beat by the time I finished.
When I checked my email this evening I found out that a good friend of mine lost his cat, Chubbo, today. I am very sorry for my friend and his cat. I used to cat sit often for my friend and got to know Chubbo pretty well. I know how hard it is to loose a pet having witnessed my parent's loss of their dog this summer. I feel like I should do something for my friend and the loss of his cat. For now, I will remember what a good cat Chubbo was and think about how happy he made my friend.
I called my friend to express my condolences and shared with him my own feelings of loss being away from my sisters and friends in CA. While I love what I am currently doing it is difficult not to feel lonely at times having been used to being around close friends all the time. In time I will probably feel less lonely but for now it's hard not to think often of my friends who are far away.
Posted by mary at October 13, 2004 12:08 AM
Comments
My husband was born in Middletown, CT. He didn't stay there long, but we visit often b/c his grandmother, aunt, and parents live there (second home).
Posted by: caitlin at October 13, 2004 8:36 AM
Mar-- wow your overall weekend sounds sooooooo tiring.... you did so many nice things too though...hanging out by the ct. river sounds great...the white chocolate drink sounds devine....the surprise packages for the ca girls...
your recent run w/the team sounds great too
i really miss you
liz
Posted by: Liz at October 13, 2004 5:38 PM
We miss you too...
Posted by: Dave at October 13, 2004 6:21 PM