Somewhat back on track

I would say that I am, at long last, somewhat back on track.  Why somewhat?  Because my nose is still giving me attitude while running.  But overall, I am as close to healthy as I have been in a month.  Hurray!

On Sunday, I decided that I might as well attempt to do my long run because if I didn't, I would feel concerned and worried for the next half-marathon.  This was after not having done a lot of running due to colds and finally a sinus infection.  Because I was somewhat out of practice and still somewhat suffering from the sinus infection, I opted to take a walk/run approach right from the start (0.54 miles running, followed by 0.06 walking).  It worked relatively well.  I also decided to finally face my fears and tackle the Clearwater Causeway.  That went less well.  Meh.  I am not trained for hills!

The only annoying thing was that my nose was very, very runny throughout the entire 12-mile run.  This I could have done without.  But I did not feel even remotely as awful as I did during the last half-marathon, which I believe means that I have made progress.  Also, I was extremely happy that I even made it through the run, since I had some serious concerns if I was still capable of doing a long distance.

Now we are onto tapering and for the first time in a long time (at least for the past three taper times), I can actually run during taper period.  So far, I am not sick....fingers crossed and knocking on wood!  Today I decided to do a four-mile jaunt around the neighborhood.  It's kind of funny to make up my own plan for runs, since I am so accustomed to following schedules.  But I feel pretty good about my ability to put together a reasonable workout that isn't too straining.  My plan is to also try some hills this week (maybe Thursday....maybe Saturday.....we will see how things go), do a 3-mile, and do 6 on Sunday.  Seems reasonable.

The one annoying thing is that my nose continues to run.  Admittedly, today was not as bad as Sunday, at least for the first half of the run, but then it started up again.  Also, I caved and walked twice during the run.  It remains warmer than I would prefer and there was some humidity in the air.  At least, I noticed that at around 0.5 miles, there was sweat running down my elbow.  I usually consider sweat at 0.4 miles to indicate icky levels of humidity, so it isn't as bad as the summer...but this is not much consolation when it is January!