Hello.

Well, you can just ignore all that schedule business below for this week. Not a single bit of it has happened.

I get sick once, maybe twice, a year. (This year, for those of you following along at home, was a two-illness affair.) Of those two, I can always count on one being after marathon season has ended, but JUST BEFORE I am scheduled to run one last little Turkey Trot to settle things out.

Thank the Lord for antibiotics, is all I have to say. (But as an aside -- because if you were keeping track of the above, you'll want to keep track of this too -- I have taken antibiotics only twice in the last 10 years, because when I want them to work, I want them to WORK.)

The good news is, I'm feeling so much better -- my toothache-that-was-really-a-sinus-infection has cleared up beautifully. Now I'm just waiting on one more hurdle to fling myself over before I start writing down my annual directions to Quantico for tomorrow's race.

Today, I meet with my new (!) sports-medicine doctor (!) to see what, if anything, is the matter with me. :) It's a post-marathon tuneup that I really should start having every year -- as well as a pre-season tuneup, too, if you really want to know the truth. I haven't been to an orthopedist since I was about 19, so it's time.

Plus, my Achilles remains stiff and unhappy, which makes me nervous, because I need it when I run and so forth. I like to keep it comfortable when at all possible. And when it clicks? I don't think it's comfortable.

So, if he says I can run tomorrow, then off I go! If he says I cannot, then we will have a debate. ;) But I promised myself and my family that if I could just get through the marathon, I would abide by the doctor's rules from then on out (until the beginning of next season, anyway). The marathon was my most important fall race. Now that it's done, I need to hold up my end of the bargain.

So there you have it. Instead of training this week -- or, rather, "actively recovering" -- I've been popping pills, sleeping in, and lounging about on the sofa at night. And you know what?

I hate it.

I miss you, Mount Vernon Trail. I will be back to you soon.

:)