Friday, April 27, 2007

No Turning Back Now

I've taken taper to a whole new level this time around. I haven't run a step since my run last Sunday with Joe in West Lafayette. Tomorrow Saturday, my lovely wife and I, get on a plane first thing in the morning bound for Portland, then into a rental car for the 2 hour drive to Eugene. I doubt I'll be lucking into a Volvo this time around.

Monday morning I awoke and the cold had worked itself up into its glorious crescendo. I haven't felt this badly in years. I basically haven't had more than a mild case of the sniffles since I started running over three years ago. I felt so bad that if I had been at home I would have called in sick. But since I was miles from home and had set up appointments weeks ago I stuck to my schedule. I walked away whenever I felt I had to cough and washed by hands every time I had to blow my nose. I hope I didn't share my germs to carelessly. Monday was a planned rest day so I was OK.

Tuesday called for 4 but I just decided that the day off wouldn't hurt me and trying to run against fighting off the cold might be more damaging than helpful. I left Indiana Tuesday afternoon and drove back to Chicagoland. Wednesday and Thursday I awoke to light rain, again I opted out of the run. No sense running the risk of making things worse. I did feel better but nowhere near 100%. I was holding out for a run Thursday evening back home on my own turf.

Needless to say that didn't happen either. So things are about as good as they are going to get before Eugene. I have no idea what will happen there. I can't decide whether I should scale back my pace and shoot for a reasonable time; 3:45 or so, based on my current health. Or should I give it all I've got going for the 8:00 miles. If I do I fall apart after that I expect I will really stink up the last few miles and then who knows how my finishing time will turn out. Not finishing is not an option. State number 10 will be conquered one way or another, I'm just afraid it won't be very pretty.

This weekend is also the Big Sur Marathon. I'll be thinking about Donald out there, pushing his way to another fine finish at a tough but beautiful course. I am going to make an exception for California and run this one someday (maybe in 2008). I'm going to miss seeing Drew up there in Eugene. He was planning on running it as a way to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Drew and here's hoping you can get your running goals back to where you'd like them to be. Getting to meet Michelle, Eric, Sarah, Jenny and Rob will be a highlight of Oregon no matter the race outcome. I hope you all have a great race and I'll see you at the finish line.

Miles:
M: Rest
T: 0
W: 0
H:0
F:0
S: Rest
S: 26.2 one way or another!

12 comments:

Jessica DeLine said...

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great. And you get to meet some cool bloggers!!

Sarah said...

Such bad timing on the cold! Hopefully the rest has served your well. Have a safe trip! : )

Backofpack said...

Darrell,
Can't wait to meet you in person! Maybe tomorrow, for sure Sunday. Eric and I are thinking Big Sur in 2008 too. That is on my wish list. See you!

Wes said...

Have a great race Darrel. Know that my thoughts will be with you guys as you strive so hard to achieve your goals. God speed and best wishes...

Joe said...

Tommorw's the day, Darrell. Go get 'em, you'll make the right decision!

Mike said...

Have a great race Darrell!!

Journey to a Centum said...

Darrell,

You were hearing footsteps, weren't you? Great run at Eugene! It was great meeting you and your wife. I look forward to reading your trip report and meeting you again at a race yet to be determined.

I'm bringing fresh legs to the next one!

Eric

Anonymous said...

hope it went well; can't wait to hear about it!!!!

Anonymous said...

Been meaning to drop a line here since Sunday. Congratulations on another race under your belt! And thanks for the happy birthday note. I thought I had dropped off everyone's RADAR. I appreciate your thinking of me. I'm in the process of writing up a rather long catch-up post but wanted to let you kow that I've been continuing to follow your exploits and was disapointed that I couldn't run in Eugene on Sunday! I see by your time that I've got some catching up to do. Have you thought at all about running either the Denver Marathon (excellent race!) or some other Colorado race?

Jason The Running Man said...

Hopefully your race went well!

Legs and Wings said...

Dude,

Hope you nailed it in Eugene. I've been checking in for word...but I suspect you'll be a few days getting back and settled.

Rest up.

Donald said...

OK, my report's up ... where's yours? I hope it went well and that you had some fun.