"When the birds first started attacking us, we all thought it was pretty funny and made Hitchcock jokes. But we're not laughing now." -Robert DeNiro on "30 Rock"
I'm not laughing, either. I'm pretty sure I just got Punk'd by Mother Nature.
For the last couple days, I really haven't been myself. Starting with my slow start on Sunday and the subsequent post-run collapse from heat exhaustion, I haven't really completely recovered. We didn't do much for the rest of Sunday, and so when I woke up on Monday, I hardly expected to be completely exhausted, but I was. I made it out of the bedroom and into the living room before deciding that I simply did not have it in me to go for a bike ride at the gym. This would turn out to be a very big mistake.
Especially on Monday, the workout is what gets my blood moving, and I needed a lot of blood to be on the move for the last couple days. Alas, it hasn't been there, which hasn't in any way decreased the amount of stuff that I have to do. I'm crazy stressed out, and on top of all of that, I'm mad at myself for not completing the workout like I should. And it's Monday. I mean, let's not forget that.
But I managed to make it through. I got almost everything done that I was supposed to get done, and what I did not finish could wait until this morning. I tried to relax as best I could last evening, but I found it much more difficult than I had anticipated. At around 9:00, I started to get ready for bed, having finally tired of dealing with the throbbing pain behind my eye that had been coming and going for most of the day. Perhaps, I thought, I really just needed a good night's sleep. Eight hours of solid shut-eye should get me back on track.
Nope. Six o'clock came and went and still I laid in bed. I didn't actually get up until right at 8:00 when I had to start working, another massive task load in front of me. I managed to get through my 8 hours with only two or three small mental breakdowns, and at the end of the day, I still had a lot on my plate, not the least of which was the 3-mile run that I needed to complete at some point before midnight. I toyed with a couple different ideas before settling on the decision to wait until the rain started, run my three, and work otherwise.
What's that? Rain? Yes, according to the forecast, which in reality means very little in this town. They were telling me that around 4:00, it would rain rather strongly, and the temperature would drop 15 degrees. I realize now that it was wishful thinking to consider this an actual possibility, but I figured something had to tip in my favor today. I laced up, and kept my eye on the sky. Sure enough, right at 4, the thunder started, but there was no actual rain just yet. As soon as I saw some drops, I was out the door.
Here's what I was thinking - if I start running when the rain just starts, then by the time I start my return trip, it'll be raining for real, thus cooling me down. All of this will allow me to do a nice hard run to push out some of the tension. Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened. I did, in fact, run a very fast first half, at which point the rain stopped and the temperature jumped ten degrees. Crap.
This would have been enough of a failure pile for one day, even without the fact that, going both directions, I was attacked by a bird, which then chased me for a tenth of a mile in each direction. And I went way out of my way to avoid him the second time.
Sweaty, angry, and jumpy, I trudged back up the hill, and passed a rather brutal car accident.
And I realized it could have been a lot worse.
Every now and then, I go through these awful spells of being, for lack of a better word, a little depressed. It's not clinical or anything, but I just get easily annoyed (with others and myself) and frustrated, and it leaves me feeling very empty. I try to head them off, but they get through inevitably, so the best that I can do is recognize the situation in which I find myself, and just deal with it. Get out the other side, and something good is bound to happen. I've still got a lot of work to do tonight, after a rehearsal, so it's not likely that I'll suddenly be in a great mood tomorrow.
But I can guarantee I'll run slower.
Tuesday's Run:
95 Degrees / Rain
3.3 Miles
23 Minutes, 30 Seconds
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