welcome back, plodder

me, now. earlier, not so much.

"to be on the wire is life. the rest...is waiting."

~ joe gideon, "all that jazz"
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i'm back.

it took the better part of a month, but i'm finally fully recovered from #gw100k.

which is to say, my energy is back to pre-race levels, i have spring in my legs, and my head is on straight again. as straight as it ever is, i suppose.

i was getting (a little) worried. ten days post-race, dragging myself from the car to the office, i literally said out-loud, "come ON, enough is enough." no, it wasn't.

trying to engage in what passes for an active recovery, i barely kept up during group runs, barely stayed awake during daylight hours, and barely felt coherent when my eyes were open.

i ate everything in sight, but it had little effect, other than to make my clothes fit a little tighter.

friends who also ran #gw100k, meanwhile, were tearing up the trails like it was nothing. "a hundred k? ho hum, NBD. who's ready for hill repeats?"

yeah, that was a little demoralizing.

having said that, i fully recognize that everyone recovers differently. and that bouncing back from a 100k with 12,000 feet of climbing takes time (for most people). still, after a week i was ready to be recovered.

after two and a half weeks, i made an appointment for a physical, just to make sure i hadn't permanently depleted myself. or something.

the bad news: i was unable to get in right away. the good news: in the interim, i pulled myself back together.

which is to say running and writing and staying awake feel good again. they're things i want to do, rather than feel like i should do.

so, walking into the doctor's office i can say, "i ran a long race, which made me tired. i'm not tired any more. nice to see you. buh-bye."
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update: the doctor agrees with my assessment: i'm fine. so healthy, in fact, that i don't have to go back for three years.

{scurries off to ultrasignup.com to fill up the rest of 2016.}
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"it's show time, folks."

~ joe gideon, redux