Taking Days Off

I don't like taking days off from running and I rarely do. Although I have loosened up a bit over the years, I never used to take a day off from running unless I was physically unable to run. One of the craziest things I did was go on a 3AM run in the city of Atlanta before catching an international flight. I've also done a 1AM run through the middle of Sydney, but that wasn't so bad. Knowing that I will most likely race better by taking days off has not convinced me to take any rest days.

I have taken days off when hospitalized, but that doesn't happen very often. I was hospitalized only once in my lifetime, and that was the time I was running the length of Japan. (That story will come up later in my trek through Kyushu.)

Yes, I have been quiet on the blog for the past week or so. It has been a rough week. I have been slaving over the final draft of my dissertation, which, by the way now has over 80,000 words. The deadline is adding to the pressure.

The toughest part has been the inability to run. I have a very nasty infection in the toes of my right foot. It is particularly bad on the bottom portion of the 2nd and 3rd toes. How did I get it? I think it all started with a simple scratching of the toes one day after a run, that most likely made a small cut in my skin. I knew something was different on subsequent runs, but I continued the daily routine. I think it all came to a head when I went on a rainy run on a very mushy field. The little bugger bacteria must have crawled in as a result of that run (I think).

Anyway, I was in pain for a few days with a huge swollen, infected foot. I won't go into details, but it was not pretty. I finally went to the doctor on Saturday and got some antibiotics and other good stuff to help the toes. I'll go back to see him again tomorrow.

The moral of the story...Anything can happen to anyone at anytime. Just keep running when you can!