Ran My Longest Long Run Since September 8th in Anticipation of L.A. Marathon

Training through the December holiday season is a bit of a challenge, among holiday festivities, shopping, parties, and, of course, colds. Yes, somehow I managed to catch two separate colds this month. Both of them were fairly short in duration, but as I age, I seem to encounter longer periods of chest congestion and coughiing after battling off the sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. I still wake up with a cough, but, I'm feeling pretty good at this point.

Speaking of catching colds, it was a specific Saturday lunchtime when the kids and I visited one of our favorite local restaurants, which I will leave unnamed as it is not important. The cashier, someone who I immediately recognized and said hello to from prior visits when he served the food, briefly turned away and looked like he was sneezing or wiping his nose. For a brief second I thought, this is not good. But I was in the middle of ordering and the kids were unwieldy. There was only one available table in the restaurant and it had plates on it. The cashier bussed the table. Then, minutes later, the same guy served our food.

Five days later...slight sore throat and lethargic. I KNEW that was a mistake but sometime's it's hard to steer clear of viruses. And when you're constantly getting inadequate sleep, you're more susceptable to catching a cold virus.

I digress. My training has been consistently light to moderate this month, even after I attempted to motivate myself to train more by signing up for the Los Angeles Marathon on March 9, 2014. So today, the last Saturday of 2013, I managed to get out there and run 14 miles on the roads in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Not a bad start to my training. I figure I have about 6 weeks of training before a 3 week taper. This is not an optimal amount of time, but I'm not taking this marathon particularly seriously.

I have fond memories of the LA Marathon in the mid-1990s, when I was a heck of a lot younger and able to train a lot harder in my pre-marriage, pre-kids state. My first sub-3 hour marathon was the 1995 LA Marathon in 2:48. The next year I ran my first sub-2:40 marathon at the 1996 LA Marathon. Then my PR marathon was the LA Marathon the next year in 2:35, back when the course was still a loop around Los Angeles. That was my 8th marathon. Now I've run 31 of them, with #32 hopefully happening next March.

Feeling Under the Weather While Running in Wet Weather

With my wife battling a cold for the last 10 days and a co-worker bring a cold to the office, I kept a positive mental attitude, proactively loaded up on vitamin C and washed my hands all the time to steer clear of catching something myself.

It was a galiant effort. But it got me. Finally. Dammit.

While I did my best to heed off the cold, probably what did me in was insufficient sleep. Hey, I like writing and sharing information, but it does keep me up later than what my bedtime should be.

But I continue to do my best, running through a head cold. Helps me clear out my system. But yesterday it was pouring rain most of the day and I didn't stay out too long.

This brings me to running ware in the rain. It is so infrequent that I run in the rain that, while I know what I should be doing, I usually am not prepared to do it. I wore 2 layers of cotton and it was raining on me. Within 15 minutes the shirts were soaked. Not a good thing as those wet, heavy shirts can do quite a bit of chafing on the chest. Luckily, I didn't run long and I escaped the dreaded shredded nips.

Layering is good. In the colder winter months I layer my tops and often take the outer layer off during the run. But in the rain, the outer layer should repel the water. If you anticipate taking off the outer layer, the inner layer should too. A "technical" shirt made out of non-manmade materials is the way to go. If you are running in strong rain, placing protection, like a bandaid, over the nips, is not a bad idea.

I survived that run. This morning I woke up and it felt like a bus hit me. My sinuses are clogged. But I got out there anyway for 35 minutes. Felt terrible most of the run.

Ah yes, the joys of winter running when sick. The toils of a marathoner.