This week has been busy and I’ve been tired every day, or so it seems. Sleeping in that boot (for my PF) has been difficult now that it’s cooled off and we’ve piled blankets on the bed again, and getting through the night with it on has been less and less frequent. That said, last night was fine and I woke up without foot pain today. Hooray!

The cold that I had last week seems to have made it fully out of my system and my runs this week have been good. I just wish there were more of them. I’m going to run 4 tonight after work, 3 in the morning (as a makeshift double in prep for RTB) and then go for 8 or 9 on Sunday or Monday.

I’m getting nervous about RTB, given that I’ve been hurt and every run has felt like a long, slow, struggle. I mean, it’s OK and I’m going to do my best, but I’m still feeling anxious and worried that I won’t meet my team’s expectations. This is why I’ve never been much of a team sport person, honestly. The only solution is to keep on running and try to focus when the day finaly arrives, and to smile a lot and have fun. Now that I can manage just fine.

After my run today, I pretty much did nothing and it has been righteous. I baked bread, straightened up the house after last night’s get together with Mark & Leslie, and started watching movies that I downloaded from Netflix to Rob’s Xbox. I ended up watching Mean Girls (kind of funny), Jesus Camp (scary and not the Christianity I grew up with), and Helvetica (for design nerds).

Tomorrow I go to the chiropractor for my foot and then head into our new offices in East Cambridge. I’ll run some doubles this week, make some meals, and get together with David’s girlfriend who is in town for a mini vacation. It’s not very exciting, but it’s my life and I’m feeling happy right now. It’s been a good weekend.

First of all, I am sick. I went to bed at 8pm last night, slept until nearly 7am today, and woke up sounding like Kathleen Turner. I am also very warm right now. But this is not the primary reason for my post today.

No, today I am filled with kindness and love for everyone, and it’s freaking me out a little. I have this desire to compliment people today, to tell them how great I think they are, which could be a little uncomfortable for everyone, considering I am in the office today and feeling particularly filled with admiration and love for select coworkers. Not in that way, of course. I just think that some of them are really great, and they are also shy and fun and adorable, which is why I want to hug them sometimes, because they are so cute when they’re like that! But that would be weird.

It just struck me that although I am not particularly happy right now (in fact, I am downright miserable if you want to know the truth), I still want to make other people happy, or at least let them know that they are valued and that I care about them. And I think that’s OK, to let people know that you care. It’s what makes us human and it doesn’t have to be a big deal, you know?

There is something, however, that is making me sad. I ruined a friendship a few years ago – totally unintentionally, but still – and that friend was someone that I really cared about. I’ve been meaning to try to contact her (not via email of course), but I don’t really know what to say. The whole thing, from my perspective, was a big misunderstanding, but I clearly hurt her feelings and, as she is a very loyal person, this was a big deal.

So… I just don’t know what to do now. I could send her a card maybe, or just call her (although she hates to talk on the phone). It’s not that I necessarily want her to say forget it, I forgive you, and everything will be back like it was. I guess I just want the opportunity to earn her trust, to earn that forgiveness. I miss her and she is an amazing person who I wish was still in my life.

It’s Sunday night and I’m sitting on the sofa, left foot in my stupid PF boot thing. I’m hydrating, and contemplating going to bed before 9:30. It has been a long weekend.

Yesterday was just busy doing random stuff – chores, errands, walkng Bo, cooking. I went to bed early but had a rough & restless night.

So, when I woke up this morning at 7:30… whoa, 7:30(!!!)… I was exhausted and didn’t feel like running. I had some coffee and ate my usual, pre-run, summer breakfast (Cheerios with blueberries & plain soy milk), drank some water, checked my email, procrastinated, and finally hit the road at about 9:30.

It wasn’t particularly hot today, and there was a nice breeze, but the sun was bright and it felt hot enough without being uncomfortable. I was sweating my ass off pretty quickly and I was worried about having enough fluids for my out and back route. Around mile 3, my stomach started cramping and I couldn’t stomach anything sweet. I was sweating a lot; way more than I should have been.

By the time I had been out for an hour, I managed to force down a Gu and some water,  walked for a few minutes, and tried to tell myself that there was only another half hour or so run, and most of it was downhill. My stomach had started to calm down, but I had a feeling that the cramping and general awfulness was about ready to head south. I touched my face and felt the salt crusted along my temples. This was not good. I kept running.

At 8 miles I was nearing the road that headed back to my house and I bagged it, one mile short of my plan.  This was disappointing, but I had been feeling off for a while. I walked the long, slow hill back home, about a third of a mile, sipping the Gatorade I had left. It felt disgusting in my mouth and I gagged a little, but got it down.

When I got home, Rob just stared at me. Are you OK? he asked.

In spite of the cramping and sweating, I didn’t really feel that bad, but when I saw myself in the bathroom mirror I was shocked. My face was so salty. My arms were salty, and my face was red but also had no color, if that makes sense. When I sat down to deal with my GI issues, holy hell, I started sweating even more. That’s when I noticed the smell coming off me: ammonia. Ugh.

I drank some orange juice, ate some pretzels and some plain yogurt, then went up stairs to shower and rest. The cold shower felt amazing, and I could feel the food & fluids I’d had starting to do their job. Then I slept for 2 hours.

I still don’t know exactly what happened. It wasn’t that hot. I ran in the shade when I could. I had fluids with me, and was well hydrated before I left. Call it a running anomaly, I guess, because I feel fine now.

Weird.

The other day I was just sitting at my desk, writing UI requirements (ho hum), when an email popped into my In box, and that email bore the news that my friend’s relay team for Reach the Beach was down a member and they were looking for a runner for their team. For the uninitiated, RtB is a 200 mile, 24 hour relay race, from Franconia to Hampton Beach, NH. Basically you alternate running, driving around to different parts of the course, stinking it up in a van with your teammates, and having tons of fun all the while. Afterwards, you drink beer and eat fried seafood. Hooray!

Now, it was only a few days ago that I had been saying to another friend of mine, Oh, I wish that I could do that race, so of course I replied and said, I’m in. Where do I sign up? And my friend said, Are you sure? That’s fantastic. And I said, Does the Pope shit in the woods? which I know makes no sense, but it’s fun to say anyway.

And then I IMed Dianna, basically squealing like a little monkey about the whole thing.

I then squealed (again, like a monkey) to another, non-running friend of mine, who asked, “are you excited? Because I don’t know if I should be excited for you, or just tell you you’re crazy, and I just want to give you the correct response.” I think a bit of both is appropriate, to tell you the truth, I said, or rather squealed.

So, now I’m on a team. And it is AWESOME and I am PSYCHED. Psyched, like only a squealing little monkey can be psyched, which is a lot, apparently. And now I must figure out how to train for this race, and how it differs from my half marathon training, which is going OK in spite of my PF. My friend Jillie sent me a copy of her training schedule and it seems to dovetail nicely into my own, with the exception of running a few doubles before the race, so I’ll have to figure that out.

I’ve got a 9 miler on tap for Saturday morning, before we leave for our camping trip, and that will be my longest run since my half in May. It seems crazy and weird to me that I’m back to running longer miles so quickly, given that I took so much time off after the race, and that I’ve been running spottily ever since, but so it goes. I’ll take it. I just wish the PF would go away is all.

The night splint has been helping a ton, and I can finally sleep through the night with it on, which is huge. For a while I ended up taking it off at around 3am, then putting it back on around 5am, before getting up at 5:30. Needless to say, that kind of messed with my sleep patterns. I never go barefoot anymore, and I’m still using a foam roller on my calves, which always feel tight no matter what I do.

But Reach the Beach! Oh my. I can barely contain myself. Glen & Julia are coming in from Chicago. Wu is coming down from Vermont. Kris and Robert are coming up from San Antonio. Beth from Connecticut. Melissa from Ohio, whom I’ve never met. A bunch of us Massholes. And Jill, from NH by way of Kentucky. I can’t wait to see them and run with them, to cheer them on and drink a beer (or many) afterward.

I am literally stupid with excitement. Seriously. Somebody pinch me!