Judgment Call

My schedule called for a rest day today and an easy, 25-minute aerobic run tomorrow. However, a few weeks ago I signed up for a local 10K with a friend not noticing it was less than a week after my half Ironman. Since I never get to run the fun races anymore, I begged my coach to let me have this one and agreed to keep the pace easy. So I got up this morning and headed into the city to join 7,600 other people for the Scotland Run in Central Park.

It was already raining pretty hard when I got on the train in Brooklyn but the optimistic side of me (yes, I have an optimistic side) said maybe it would let up or stop altogether. Only it didn't stop, instead it rained harder and harder and the temperature seemed to be dropping as well. It was allegedly 49 degrees, but it felt like it was in the mid-30s. Just waiting in line for registration had me feeling chilled to the bone and my hands went numb. Finally, about 10 minutes before the race began, I started to wonder if it was wise for me to be there. I've been really run down all week and barely got any sleep due to my work schedule. Yesterday I was so exhausted I felt feverish. The last thing I can afford right now is to get sick again.

So after standing in the mud and pouring rain for 40 minutes, I decided not to do the race. One of my gym locations is right by the park so I decided to go there and run on the treadmill instead where I could at least be dry and warm. I wished my friend luck and took off. I felt bad about bagging the race, but at the end of the day it just wasn't important enough to risk a setback later. If the sole purpose was fun, the purpose was gone.

This was my first run since the HIM and it felt incredible. My legs weren't fatigued at all and I was able to push a pace much faster than expected. But I reminded myself to take it easy and stopped at 5 miles so I had time for stretching and foam rolling.

Just as I finished, my friend finished as well so we met back up and had a huge breakfast. I spent the rest of the day taking it easy and even took a long nap, something I never do. I guess my body still needs more rest before I'll be fully recovered.

Running
Distance - 5 miles
Time - 42:05