Cough Cough

I've had that cough for longer than I can remember now, and each time I think I'm getting better I get another coughing fit. I haven't seen a doctor yet because I generally fight those kind of things with the likes of Vitamin C, but I have to say, my patience is wearing a bit thin by now. Niamh keeps asking me to stop running, but so far I can still convince myself that the whole thing is not running related, even if I can't do the same for her. Whenever I come home from a run I give a very convincing display of a chain smoking asthmatic on his last legs for the next 30 minutes, but that's because of the deep breathing associated with running rather than running causing the actual damage itself. But, as I said, my patience is starting to wear thin, and while Niamh and Shea and the rest of the family (apart from Maia) are coughing as well, I'm doing as much as the rest of them combined.

At least Maia is in good form, and when I held her yesterday morning she kept producing a series of one gorgeous smile after the other, which eventually made me find my camera and take a photo with one hand while holding her in the other. It was slightly awkward, but the result is cute enough.

Oh, yes, running. I did 8 miles yesterday, slowly and relaxed, to get the heavy feeling from that one fast mile out of my legs. I had planned a longer run for today; first I intended to head over to Cabinteely Park and do a few laps in there (a lap is a bit over a mile), but realised that it would not be open yet by the time I got there, and decided to head towards Killiney instead. However, after 3 or so miles I started to feel really crap. I suspected a bit of illness manifesting itself and thought about turning around, but kept going for another mile. That's where the dirt track is located, and I opted to do a few laps around there. At the start of the second loop I decided to do a few laps of straights and curves (sprint the straights, jog the curves), and time passed so quickly while doing those that I has managed 2 miles like that before I knew it, and that's when I decided to be cautious and head back home. The next 4 miles were challenging again because of an increasingly strong headwind that drove the rain right into my face, but once I reached the driveway I felt a lot better and went out for a mile out-and-back towards Sandyford, which gave me 13 miles for the entire run. Not exactly a long run, but I'm still in my recovery week, and with me not being healthy I felt it was enough (I know, I know, plenty of you will be thinking 13 miles were mad anyway). I could have gone on for longer, in fact I tended to feel better the longer the run went on, but where do you draw the line? In any case, my cough is still there, and if it doesn't get better soon I'll run to the doctor and beg him or her for some antibiotic or similar poison.

26 Dec

8 miles, 1:07:50, 8:28 pace, HR 143

27 Dec

13 miles, 1:47:38, 8:16 pace, HR 147
including 16x100 strides (straights and curves)