Sick (an update)

Some of my Daily Mile friends may have noticed that my workouts have been a bit ... sparse, lately.  So here's what happened.  After Chicago, I decided to take one full week off from any kind of exercise other than walking Klaus and some stretching.  Next on the plan was to spend a couple weeks easing back in to workouts, making a concerted effort NOT to prioritize them over anything else going on in my life -- my first real academic conference, catching up with friends, etc. etc.  Seemed like the thing to do after spending April 1st - Oct 13th working toward one major race goal or another.  So far, so good.

Also  this happened, which was awesome

This week was going to be the week when I started ramping back up again.  And then, BAM, nasty cold (sore throat, headache, achy legs and back, running nose, gross cough, the whole deal).  Saturday evening around 8pm, I was at Harvard stadium watching some of my students on the Harvard football team pull out a close win over Dartmouth.

Go Crimson! (as long as you're not playing Princeton)

By 9pm, I was sitting at the Ale House with my head on the table totally uninterested in my mac n cheese.  Those of you who know me understand that this is the #1 way to know I am sick -- healthy Jess is ALWAYS interested in food, ESPECIALLY mac n cheese.  I'm now four days into this bug, and it doesn't seem to be fading as quickly I'd like.  But, seems like a fair price to pay for six months of almost totally healthy training and racing, including my first ever 70.3, my second sub-2:10 half, and my first sub-5 hr marathon.  So, while I hope I'll be back to pounding the pavement before too long, I've made my peace with a few days on the couch eating a bunch of these:

Surprisingly delicious (when you don't eat them on a regular basis)

Back soon with my Chicago Marathon race recap and the plan for the rest of the year!

P.S.  I almost forgot the best news of the day!  Returning from Chicago, I lost my awesome Chicago runs for Boston bracelet going through the security checkpoint.

It obviously had a lot of sentimental value, and I was maybe just a little bit worn out the day after the marathon, so this led to an awkward series of events in which I ran/limped back to the TSA checkpoint as my flight was boarding (two hours after going through originally) and struggled not to burst into tears as the very nice TSA agent explained that it would have been taken to the central lost and found by that point and gave me the number to call (once the government reopened, of course).  Well on Monday I finally left a message with the lost and found, and today another very nice TSA agent called me back to tell me they have it and that I can pick it up when I go back through O'Hare for Thanksgiving.  HOORAY!