I got up this morning before the alarm clock, with only a little help from a shout down the hall — “Daddy, I’m scared!” “Okay, then come down here.” “No…” — and I got on the road as soon as it was twilight. I ran for two hours, by myself, sans iPod Shuffle, which is some kind of record for me. No conversation, no music. I can’t do running as meditation though: my brain goes a mile a minute, even as my body is going considerably slower.
The only problem I had with the run was this odd pain I get in my right hip. I describe it as being in the ball-and-socket of the joint, but to be honest, I don’t know what it is. It’s not the IT band problem I’ve had. And it always hits about the same time in a long run, 2/3 in. A little stretching seems to have taken care of it, but it’s a problem I’d like to solve before I hurt something.
I came back to the house and started preparing for the family brunch we were hosting. I made coffeecake muffins (two words: tas. tee.) and Darin made the French scrambled eggs and Mitch cooked the bacon. I also made drinking chocolate à la Café Angelina, of which a person could only drink about 2 or 3 ounces before we needed to get out the syringe of adrenaline. (Even the kids didn’t want seconds.) We gave Scott and Christy their (slightly belated) wedding gifts, and Scott and Christy gave the kids some gifts they had for them.
The guests left, the kids vegged on the couch watching “Batman: The Animated Series”, and I did the first load of dishes.
And then I fell unconscious for two hours. As I always do after a longish run, or a hard run like the Rodeo Beach run Rob and I did a couple of weeks ago.
What is the deal? Isn’t exercise supposed to give me energy? If I schedule two hours for a morning run, I’d better schedule two in the afternoon for a nap, because around two p.m. all my systems shut down. “Warning! Warning! We are Code Fade-to-Black!” I like that I have managed to work up to doing a two hour run (which was about 10 miles), and if I can figure out what the deal is with my hip, I’d even like to try to go further. But I can’t just pass out for an entire afternoon every time.
I’m hoping this is a phase, that eventually my body will adjust to the slightly more intense level of workout I’ve been putting it through of late (changing my thyroid medications was, I think, a big help).