It’s been a big week, friends. If you saw my bio on the UR website, you might remember that I said two of my favorite things in all of the world are English bulldog puppies and moose tracks ice cream, preferably Turkey Hill brand. It is a wonder that my head did not explode because this week those two glories became a reality for me. I got a puppy!!!! And I ate moose tracks while holding her. Or attempting to hold her as she is a bit wiggly.
Her explorations sometimes lead her to dead ends. Which makes her very grumpy.
Truth be told, the puppy is actually my mom’s, but I am claiming her at least partially, as I hold her a lot and am helping to train her. Her name is Poppy Ingrid Bernadette, aka Pib, and she is 9 weeks old. When we first picked her up last week, she had a cold. Snot flowed out of her nose and she was coughing a lot. Poor little girl. We were fooled into thinking she was a nice subdued lazy little bullie puppy. Fake out. She is high energy, at least for a bulldog. She loves to play that she is stalking prey in the jungle while creeping through the bushes in the front yard. She pops out and takes a lap around the lawn and then rushes back into her lair. Cracks me up.
Running around the yard poops her out.
The joy of the puppy offset the rest of my week. I got a bit sick right after Thanksgiving, and it has hung on with a vengeance. I was forced to acknowledge that I was sick by taking a few days off, which was super annoying. I was able to workout on Saturday and do a long run Monday, but bronchitis is making it awfully hard to breathe while running. I will be very glad when this thing is gone for good!
I am thankful to have a coach who forced me to take time off. I think that as distance runners we tend to be a bit neurotic about getting our runs in and not losing mileage from the week, which can set us back further in the long run. I know that is the case for me. I hate admitting that I might need to rest a little to knock out the cold, so I push and I push and I push. I urge you to listen to your body during this cold season and allow yourself to fight a cold without running. Enjoy the rest and relaxation of a few lazy days while you cough and hack out the bug before returning to normal mileage and workouts.
Snuggles make me feel better.
I hope the rest of the UR Tribe is faring better with winter ailments than me. Happy running!!