The Beauty, the Ugliness and the Recovery

Beautiful day, Sunday. Nice enough to jog with shorts. And Jog we did. LSE, Ivy League, Gorges and I had all run the marathon the week before and were still feeling it. Superman had just eaten lunch and, so, was more than happy to keep the pace low-key.
Sunshine, flowers and kittens.

Ok. No flowers or kittens. No flowers because it was November in Brooklyn, after all. And it was likely good that we saw no kittens. It was November in Brooklyn after all.

But you catch my drift. We traded war stories and talked about races to come. I made arrangements to have a regular run with Superman after the holidays.

Ran the outside of the park, then LSE and Superman and I did a short loop of the park, going through the first transverse. LSE tried to pick it up, of course, but Superman and I resisted. When he finally took off at the hill, we watched him go then turned back to each other and continued our conversation.

Even better, I had lured Ivy League and Gorgeous out with the promise of a beer. So off we went to share a beer and some more chat.

Due to my awesome new pull-over (florescent green), I am sure, I even got some "Hey cutie!"s as I walked through my neighborhood after running back to Nostrand!

Then, the start of the ugly.

I knew better. I thought about what their probable sanitation grade was as I walked there, and promised myself I wouldn't get take-out if it was a B or below. But there was no grade on the front of the store (just a place where a piece of paper appeared to be torn off: bad grade or old reggae flyer? we will never know). So I went in.

Felt a bit queasy later in the evening, but chalked it up to being tired. Around 3:30am, I knew differently.

I am not a puker. Found out a few things on Monday, though. Firstly, it stinks to be late leaving for work because you are indisposed over a toilet. Secondly, as much fun as an older gentlemen with major beer breath trying to hit on you at 6:00am at a subway stop is, it is even more fun when you are about to puke on his shoes. Thirdly, Columbus Circle is not the place to puke sanitarily, if you have the option. The trashcans are too high. I've been counciled that Times Square is much better, as they have the more normal-sized trash cans.

Do you think they designed the cans that way on purpose?

I have no idea what pregnant ladies do when commuting to work. Bring their own barf bag and then quietly and publicly puke while sitting on the subway? It's not like you can get off of it whenever you want to!

And who gets food poisoning from vegan food, anyway?! Only from some disgusting hygenic issues that I don't want to think about. Stomach still not 100%!

So no running, some interesting teaching, and an early bedtime ensued on Monday.

The recovery started Monday afternoon. Less nausea, etc. Still had the chills but was feeling a bit better. So, after being in bed for hours, I was pysched to try my stomach out by meeting the Vivacious Redhead for a run Tuesday morning.

After all, I've got training for Birmingham to do and papers to avoid!

So I met her at the school and we ran the cemetary, coming back to a great little coffee shop on 3rd Avenue. My stomach was not quite up for coffee but we talked about Thanksgiving plans and ideas for recipes.

Yay for being able to run again! After more recovery and physical therapy yesterday, which did magic for my problematic calf - it was way too tight and was pulling on every other muscle and a tendon that connects the calf and the hamstring, so more painful rolling for me - I am psyched to go back to training.

Too bad training is likely not in the cards today, unless it stops raining. A quite between-classes jog is alright but it doesn't work so well if you come back looking as if you were just pulled from the sewer.