Sick mode

I’m currently down with colds and yesterday was a house arrest day for me. 

After my back-to-back races the past weekend, I made sure my Monday was supposed to be a rest day – definitely a “no run” day.  But I was supposed to be back and up already by Tuesday to attend my second session at the Nike running clinic. 

But surprise of surprises, Tuesday turned out to be a sick day.  Oh and what a nice succession is that -   rest day then sick day! 

I was glad anyway to have found an excuse to stay curled on my bed most of the time yesterday and get plenty of sleep.  Oh but the self-enforced water therapy (I probably finished up more than five 1L pitchers of water yesterday!) proved to be a not-so-easy task.  But it worked, I think. 

I am giving this colds two more days from today for an ultimatum.

Not a streaker. NEVER.

I was back in Manila Tuesday night, after the two-day team planning in Mimosa.  I had planned to call it “rest days” until Friday -  when I plan to have a ‘run & eat’ birthday celebration with my runner-friends -  but a friend in need (of a run practice) disrupted my supposed rest days plan.  Last Tuesday night, Dree sent me an SMS asking if I would join her run the next morning or later at night the next day.  Hmm.  I paused and reflected.  She must need this  run.  So despite my previous plans of getting to bed earlier than usual and resting my legs until Friday, I replied: “Ok, let’s run tomorrow night.”

Usually, it is I who ask Dree to accompany me do late evening runs in UP.  And she happily complies because she also wants to.  But the initiative almost always comes from me.

So the other day’s run invite from her was sort of an SOS alarm to me.  She needed to run, I thought.  So despite all the groginess personified in me, after that consecutive Bicol & Clark activities, I gave in to help a friend in need.  Again, – of a run.  Funny how it becomes a need!  Hahaha!

So last night we ran together and I noticed there were plenty of other joggers in the area.  I did a 3K continuous run (I had planned it to be an easy run after the Clark exhaustion) and about 2K of short run bursts, for speed training (?).  Hehe.  Dree did a continuous 5K run on a race-pace. 

While we walked to cool down, I told her about my apprehension of running that night – since I just ran the other day  (I ran Tue morning in Clark and then ran again last night).  But I told her that since we did it in the evening it looked like I had a good rest time in between anyway.  I said I have no plans of being a streaker.

And she asked, “What is a streaker?”

I replied, “It’s someone who runs everyday and never misses.  You know rest days are just as important as training days because the body badly needs to rest too.”

But I guess she got more amazed with the term ’streaker’ as she reacted, “Oh… streaker pala tawag dun…”  (in a thoughtful mood).

This morning I researched over the net the meanings of the word ’streaker’, and here’s what I got.  AMAZING!  They are two different things, and in both meanings I DO NOT INTEND TO BE A STREAKER-  NEVAH!

 

definition 1: 

  Streaker 

A runner who runs seven days a week and never misses, not just usually, but ever.  There are runners who have gone on for many years without a day off.  The longest known streak is held by Bob Ray, of Maryland, who has run every day since April 4, 1967. A local runner, Craig Davison, has run every day since November 11, 1978.  To date he has finished 123 marathons, 76 of them sub-3:00, often winning or at least getting age group hardware.  One of his goals is to run 100 sub-3:00 marathons.  (http://www.lynndavidnewton.com/run/rttm/ha1.html#streaker)

 

definition 2: 

  Streaker 

Someone who takes off all their clothes and runs naked through a public place.  (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/streaker)