Friday I woke up with a 101 degree fever, sore throat, aches and pains, sensitive skin and a splitting headache, so theres not much to say about running this week. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve been so sick that I couldn’t run, but August 20th was when I last had a cold.
Anyway, my fever broke this morning, but the sore throat is only getting worse. If it continues I may have to go to the doctor. Although I feel weak, I think I might be getting better because I’m thinking about how I would like to get out for a run, though I couldn’t possibly at the moment.
Since my last post, I only did 8 miles on the treadmill Wednesday after the tempo runs. I had to then take the following day off because of a blister on the arch of my foot that just kept getting worse. I’ve had it for almost two weeks now from a small pebble in my shoe when running. Each successive run just made it worse. Yes, I know, not smart.
Back in August I happened to have had a stress test and echocardiogram to rule out any serious causes for a PVC I’ve been experiencing. It turned out to be harmless and I can even get rid of them if I cut out coffee; but I like coffee too much so I tolerate them.
Recently however, I came across a post on a message board from an experienced marathoner who suffered a heart attack after his race. It sort of put things in perspective and I’ve since called the cardiologist to get his opinion on the amount of plaque I have around my heart. He said there was nothing significant and after talking to him a bit, he mentioned he could send me the disc of my echo, which I think is the coolest thing. Well, I received it today and although its not hard to tell what I’m looking at, I have no idea if anything looks good or bad. Nonetheless, I find it quite intriguing.
But, this has now given me something new to wonder about since I’ve discovered my left ventricle measures 4.7cm while the normal range is 1.9cm to 4.0cm. 
Speaking of mortality, I’ve finished reading Haruki Murakami’s book “What I talk about when I talk about running”. Its quite a bit like a running blog in book form. I enjoyed it, but since I’m comparing it to a type of running blog, I have to admit there are blogs out there I enjoy much more. Nonetheless, this was a good read and offered a lot of insight that other runner’s can relate to, which is the reason runners read other runners’ blogs in the first place.
Out of the themes he focused on, two of them seemed to stick out in my mind the most. The first was how he believed his lifestyle as a writer was toxic for his soul and how he used running as a means to have physical health in order to balance it out. He never elaborated on this as much as I liked, but I found it to be an interesting concept for my own reasons.
The second, which was somewhat prevalent through the book, was the fact that he is aging and his performance declines. He discusses this as a part of life. He simply comes to grips with it and accepts his mortality. This is something I personally fear, but I know it’ll come one day for me as well. If the day I stop improving were to come tomorrow it would be very difficult for me to accept at this point. I just hope when it does come that I’ll be ready.
In there are also a couple of “race reports”, one particular one was his 100K race and how he lost motivation for running for a while afterwards. Since he’s also a writer, he spent a lot of time writing about writing which I cannot relate to since I am not a writer, and therefore, didn’t enjoy as much.
