Well, I tried

I felt great this morning. I was almost wishing I could have Linda make her own way to work, so I could start a workout right away. As soon as I got home again, I checked out the bike setup, then got on the yoga mat. I figured some yoga, and paying attention to my breathing, would be a good warmup. Yoga'ed for a half an hour, or a little more. The moving and stretching felt so good. My lungs were mostly ok with it.

Got on my bike and started easy. I was hoping to go for an easy hour, going no harder than mid zone 2 or so. My legs felt good, but my back was killing me. By the time a half hour (only 30 minutes!) rolled around, I could feel a headache firing up, and could tell I wasn't breathing as well as I had been. My back was tensing up and I could feel some strain in my shoulders. Shut'er down.

Did some more stretching. Once I had a bit more to eat and took care of some odds and ends I headed out to the walk in clinic for a very long wait. I should have brought a book. Live and learn. The doctor says I've got what is going around, and it's a bad one. I'm not too bad compared to some that she's seen recently, given that my lungs are still inside my body. I told her this was the best I'd felt for a week and that my lungs remaining inside had been in considerable doubt for a while.

Supposedly, this cures itself. If you wait long enough. I told her I was going on two weeks now, and just starting to feel better. Was I looking at days, weeks, or months? Oh, she says, it could still be weeks. WEEKS!!!! I said. I don't have weeks. I'm sick of this. I have a half marathon to run in a few weeks. She told me it wasn't bronchitis or pneumonia, contrary to my wife's diagnosis, but it could develop if I don't take care. There isn't anything much they can give to cure it, but she gave me an asthma inhaler to help make me more comfortable. She didn't say so directly, but 'the get plenty of rest, drink lots of hot fluids, stay warm' seems to contra-indicate working balls out during Calgary's notoriously fickle weather to get ready for the Police Half Marathon. Still, the spin felt pretty good for the first bit. I'll see how it goes.

I'm going into the race with no expectations. It would be desirable to beat the race cut-off time, given that there are people with guns enforcing it. With all the police involved, attending the race is probably the safest I'll be all year. But I've never run a half marathon before, by itself. I'd like to be able to run the whole thing, excepting walking through the aid stations. I use the word 'run' very loosely of course. I have no idea how long it will take. But it doesn't matter. It's a baseline.