38

“Hello Thomas, nice to see you back” “Thanks, it’s good to be back” “How are you?” “I’ve been better, but I’ve been a lot worse” “What was wrong with you?” “I had pneumonia. In fact, I’ve still got it” “Oh my” “But the doctor said it’s ok to go back to work” “Running is out, then, of course” “No, the doctor said I’m allowed to run as long as I take it easy and as long as it’s not raining” (shocked look and lost for words).

That scene played itself out at least a dozen times on Monday and Tuesday in the office, and to be honest I was glad to be out of the house. Those walls had seemed to close in on me after three weeks of confinement. As for the running, we had beautiful weather over the weekend; the kids were out playing in the garden and on the climbing frame, and of course I managed to get a short and very easy run every day. On Monday I did not set the alarm but woke at 6:20, and when I was still wide awake at 6:40 and it wasn’t raining I decided to do 5 miles there and then. The most positive thing about that particular run was the fact that the heart rate was 10 beats lower than on Saturday for virtually the same pace. Of course it is still a lot higher than before I got sick, but at least it’s pointing into the right direction. Unfortunately that was it as far as the good weather was concerned, by Monday lunchtime we had that so familiar depressing rain again. As a result I could not run on Tuesday morning (which might explain why I was in a really foul mood), but Niamh had to go to Killarney in the evening, and I managed to go to the gym after work before she came to collect me. I had planned on 5 miles on the treadmill, but only managed 4.5 when I realised that I was out of time. Still, that was by far the longest I had ever been on one of those things. I had remembered to bring an mp3 player, which helped, but I had forgotten the heart rate monitor, so I can’t tell if that was any harder on me than road running, but I don’t think so, not even with the 1% incline that I put on to compensate for the lack of wind resistance, and the fact that I got the pace setting slightly wrong (should have been 9 minute miles).

Anyway, running feels good and easy, and I really really really hope that I will be allowed to continue. I’m lost without my daily fix, as I could not fail to notice while I was confined to home. I know that the pneumonia has not gone away because I have a constant pain in my left chest, but running does not aggravate it. In fact nothing I do or not do seems to have any effect on it, it’s just always there.

Oh, and I had my 38th birthday on Sunday, which was rather low key with me still being sick and the kids not exactly behaving like angels. We did go out for a Thai meal in Killarney for the evening, which was nice. I bought myself a birthday present. I’ll show you in my next entry.

27 Jan

5 miles, 44:51, 8:58 pace, HR 157

28 Jan

5 miles, 46:47, 9:21 pace, HR 146

29 Jan

4.5 miles, 40:15, 8:56 pace