First, some background. 2 years ago I had signed up for the Colorado Springs Grand Prix running series. I was really looking forward to it. Then the week before the second race in the series, the Take 5 in the Garden, I was hit with the worst intestinal blockage of my life. This is the worst side effect of my Diverticulosis Occasionally something will get stuck and that can cause anything from minor discomfort to intense pain (and if I am not careful than potentially worse.) Well that time I was in the hospital for 4 nights, and wasn't released until the day of the race. And needless to say, after eating nothing solid for 5 days I was in no condition to run the race.
Last year I didn't sign up for the full series as we already had some conflicting vacation plans. No big deal.
Fast forward to last Thursday night. When a fever hit, and then I spent the night barely sleeping and feeling multiple muscle cramps. By Friday morning I was exhausted, and not really sure what sickness had hit me, so I stayed home and rested. After a while it became clear I had another blockage, not on the level of the one from 2 years ago, but still annoying. So I kept myself hydrated, ate very light and pushed lots of fiber.
By Saturday morning I felt good enough to run. And dammit there was no way I was going to miss the race again! I got up, ate a light granola bar, and went to the race. This is a really tough race, it is very hilly. I was basically okay with the first big climb, but about halfway through the first long downhill the pain started. And it was with me off and on the rest of the race. It wasn't terrible, but it was enough to slow me down (which was a feat considering how slow I normally run
And eventually the blockage worked itself later that day on Saturday. Which is what it normally does if I am careful. Which meant that I was ready to do my weekly long slow run:
Not my best effort by a long shot I will admit. But my legs were shot by the time I hit 7 miles. I did as best I could but they just couldn't get moving any more. Which is okay, because in the long run I still broke 20 miles for the week. And I am sure my legs were still feeling it from the race the day before. But I am sticking to my schedule.
Legs were still a little slow and dead today. Guess I need to be careful about how much I push at the moment. Stick to the training program and not get carried away.
I will get into diet issues and dealing with the Diverticulosis another day. For now, I will just say that it is one of the reasons I need to run, even when it tries to keep me from doing so. And sometimes you just need to suck it up and run through the pain.
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