Getting back to Boston

Yuck. This illness just is NOT GOING AWAY. I lay in bed last night (in the spare bedroom, my wife having kicked me out so she could get some sleep) listening to myself wheeze. Which led me to do three things today: Go home from work at 10 a.m. because my breathing was not any better; have my nurse call in a prescription for an inhaler for me before I left; and finally, get an afternoon appointment with my PCP.

After he listened to me detail what has gone on, starting with the 12/6 marathon which undoubtedly knocked down my immune system and started this progression, he told me he thinks what happened is that the course of antibiotics right after Christmas reduced but did not eliminate the sinus infection. Which has come back with a vengeance, and the resulting drainage has triggered my asthma, hence the wheezing. So he put me on a stronger antibiotic for 10 days. Otherwise, he said the self-treatment was pretty reasonable -- the inhaler, the antihistamine to try to reduce the drainage. He said the first course of antibiotics would have been fine if all I'd had was bronchitis, but it didn't knock out sinusitis.

But in the meantime, I have not been able to run since Saturday. Nor will I for a while. Ten-milers and wheezing is not a good combination. Get this under control, then start to train again. I still have 18.5 weeks left until Newport. If it takes 10 days before Im ready to run again, so be it. My 18-week plan will become 17. Still enough time to get ready. In the meantime, I think the rest of my body will welcome a little break -- especially since it's not feeling too good now either. We'll have to see if I'm ready to RTW tomorrow. Right now, I'd say the answer will be no.

Back to work today, but still no running. Give that one more day, I think. The lungs still feel a little congested. I think the legs feel better; this is the longest break they've had in 18 months. Maybe do a little 3-4 tomorrow night, do 8 Saturday with the Crackheads, then get back into the swing next week. Or maybe not. We'll see how the pulmonary shapes up tomorrow night.

Running at Newport, which is still the target, is getting a lot more complicated. I was informed last night that the kid's post-graduation trip must start on May 22 and that Pam wants to return from New England on May 30. Which, of course, is the day of Newport. Does that mean Newport is out? No, it does not. Here's the plan: We all fly to Boston on the 22nd and roam the Northeast for a few days -- visit Pam's friend in Vermont, maybe go u to Montreal, check out New Hampshire and Connecticut and Maine and Rhode Island. Amtrak may or may not fit into this plan. Then I am to fly out of Boston to Portland on the 28th and go down to Newport from there. Pam and T stay in Boston and play around for two more days. I nail the BQ on the 30th and fly home on the 31st. That, in a nutshell, is the plan.

Back on the road this morning with the Crackheads after a week on the DL with this asthma/sinus stuff. Only ran eight, but pushed the pace hard -- 8:44 average. I was the first eight-miler to finish, as far as I could tell. Lungs cooperated, although there was of course a little drainage to stir things up (unavoidable for me when I run in 35-degree weather; the nose WILL run, period). Legs felt a little weak, for lack of a better word, but I was able to maintain the pace and even run a negative split, if you can negative split an 8-mile training run.

Going to finally go join the athletic club across the street this morning after I get my nap. Let the family work out, swim, get active, etc., and it gives me more options for crosstraining and treadmill use than just depending on the little fitness room in the clubhouse.