Monday: 16
1) Early morning 6 mile run / hill workout with Matthew. Wanted to get a run in before a planned group ride at 7:30am. Ran from Stonington High School out the trails to Field Street, where I ran 5 x Field Street hill. Only 1/4 mile long, but at 10% grade, probably one of the steepest hills of its length in Westerly or Stonington.
2) 9 mile run with Mikey and Tommy, as the group ride got changed to a group run due to the weather. Running on East Beach in front of the Ocean House, we got pelted with cold rain. Some Memorial Day! Running the short trail in Avondale, I slipped in my road shoes on a wet, muddy, 90 degree turn and went down. A little mud and blood - no worse for the wear! The rain let up and then stopped altogether for a while, so we went back to the beach - this time to run out to the tip of Napatree, where we paused at the ruins of Fort Mansfield.
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| Built in 1899, Fort Mansfield was erected to add to our coastline defenses and remained in operation from 1901 - 1917. |
Felt tired and sore. Skipped the day.
Wednesday: 13
AM: 7 miles on the Blue Heron Trail. Hadn't been here in a while due to ongoing construction disrupting my 10-mile loop, but changed to a 7-mile lollipop instead. Why am I still tired? Ran easy.
PM: 6 miles at F Gilbert Hills State Park. Had to stop frequently as I get disoriented in here, and used GPS location on my phone compared to a map to try to figure direction and place. Some really cool single-track in here, that I'd like to continue to explore. Took one CR, but it's not run often and the paces were quite slow.
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| I like it when trail designers take the time to incorporate natural features such as running alongside this boulder. |
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| Keep your eyes on the trail, if you want to remain upright! |
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| A dumping ground for 1950s (?) era cars? |
Thursday: 5
Goddard Park, Warwick. Had to give a presentation in the Providence office in the morning, and return to the Westerly office in the afternoon. Perfect situation for a lunch time run on the Goddard Trails. Sleepy and out of it. Reclined the seat and leaned back just a little when I arrived at the beach at Goddard, and promptly fell asleep! At 12 Noon with lots of little kids playing loudly at the beach.
I blamed the 81 degree heat on my lethargy, but my body is feeling really creaky and achy as I run. Ugh. Ran a slow loop on easy trails, and kind of enjoyed it, and kind of wanted it to end.
Back in Westerly, after work, I am walking to my car in 70-degree sunshine at 5pm and I start to shiver uncontrollably. Uh-oh. I think I know what this is, and I don't want to wait until tomorrow to try to get in to see my PCP in Wakefield. Drove to South County Hospital Urgent Care, where I was duly impressed with this new facility in Westerly and its caregivers. The nurse taking my vitals informs me I am running a fever with a high temperature. That confirms it for me, given chills, shivering, lethargic for a few days, achy, and creaky, my medical history, and now a fever, but let's defer to the doctor.
Diagnosis: will officially await blood test results, but she is "highly confident" that I have either Lyme (again), Anaplasmosis (again), or both (again). Certainly not appealing for sympathy, but I also don't need to be chided for my lifestyle choices of running in the woods.
She asks me questions such as "how much time do you spend in the woods" (about 5-8 hours per week), "why do you spend so much time in the woods" (only a non-trail runner or non-outdoors enthusiast would ask this), "how many ticks have you been bitten by in the past 4 weeks?" (about 4), "how many miles do you run per week?" (about 60 lately). Upon each answer, she gave me what appeared to be a perplexed or perhaps even disapproving look, such that I got mildly defensive and starting extolling the virtues I have experienced from my chosen activity (safe from traffic and exhaust, lower weight, lower heart rate, lower cholesterol, more endurance and energy, etc), to which she responded that it's all very impressive, but really confirms her suspicions on the diagnosis. Oh, OK. I was afraid her writing was on an admission ticket to a psychiatric hospital, and if she next asked "weren't you the guy that was spotted last week running into the woods with a can of gasoline?", and I answered truthfully, that would seal the psych ward deal.
Friday: 0
No running today. Not no way, not no how. Spent most of the day on the couch, miserable.
Saturday: 5
What I had hoped to do: Run the Cranmore Mountain Run
What I actually did: A 10-minute pace local run. More of a shuffle, actually, but I was out there.
Sunday: 5
Need to minimize the amount of direct sunlight I get while on the Lyme meds, and since I slept in and the sun was up by the time I dragged myself out, that means I'm back in the woods with my friends (the ticks). Ran dirt roads in Burlingame. Felt better than yesterday.
Weekly Mileage: 45
Weekly Synopsis: Obviously a disappointing week. Started the week strong and by mid-week, it was all headed downhill fast. I'm hoping this latest illness bout will resolve quickly and I'll back running well soon.
Oh Jeff, that sucks. Hope you are on the mend quickly and can avoid further tick bites. Peppermint oil around your legs, perhaps? There are some new fangled tick repellant hiking socks on the market, far from attractive but who are you trying to impress running in the woods anyhow?
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