Friday, March 21, 2008

good friday



despite years of parochial school, i have never gotten used to the jarring and inappropriate title "good friday" to symbolize the day christ was crucified and died on the cross. i'm one of those who believes the current term is the evolution of "god's friday," a plausible explanation for the word "good" in such an in opposite place. but, that's just speculation on my part. so much for the snippet of religion on this traditional day of "fasting and penance."

on the training front, last night i went out for an additional 4 miles. the wind hadn't abated, but i ran my typical post road route - and faced significantly fewer hills than the 10 miler earlier that day. the run took 31:51, a 7:58 average pace. that gave me a total of 14 miles for the day, 47 for the week so far.

this morning, however, when i got up that nasty cough had returned. i rationalize it as a cosmic payback for running on wednesday and thursday, instead of resting up and getting that bug out of my system. so i sat in my office this morning eating one lemon honey cough drop after another - with little to show for the effort. then, when i got home this afternoon, i had the surreal experience of kicking off my run with a shot of cough suppressant - that was a first.

the cough medicine did its job, but my legs were dead from the combination of yesterday's hills and the lingering hold of the cough. the wind hadn't abated at all. when i took off, expecting to run 8 miles, it was deja vu all over again - wind tunnel conditions - ugh. i got thru 4 miles in 30:59, then faded. going for the full 8 miles was ridiculous under the circumstances. an 8:09 and 7:31, closed out the 6 miles in 46:45, a 7:48 pace. not pretty, but i'll take it.

if i follow this week's routine, i'll try to eek out another 4 miles later. but two things may mitigate against the extra miles. first, there's the 3 mile "bunny boogie" in darien, ct, tomorrow morning. it katie's first race since late last fall! i want to keep a little in the tank for that one. and, second, the 3+ sick days, each with varying degrees of discomfort, seem to have caught up with me - and i'm pretty beat right now :(

but, there are still a few hours to go before bedtime. with nothing worth watching on t.v. - maybe i'll get a second wind.

today's 6 miles gives me 53 for the five day week.

2 comments:

CTmarathoner said...

can't imagine running so fast on such high miles in this weather, with hills, and cough too -maybe symbolic of the suffering and soul-searching? of Good Friday...take it easy now!! and drink lots of liquids.
Enjoy tomm, and this Easter weekend, for the hard stuff will come later in the next few weeks:)

rundangerously said...

i thought the symbolism was a bit uncanny myself - yikes :O