HOKIE, ESQ.: So 5 Weeks of the Flu & Pneumonia Later..

Friday, February 8, 2013

So 5 Weeks of the Flu & Pneumonia Later..

Well, 2013 has been pretty insane for me so far! I had a great first week of the new year and then my bff came for a belated birthday celebration and to celebrate that I actually became a lawyer after all these years! We had such a fun weekend but I much have caught something because the Tuesday after her visit I came down with the flu, real bad. Thank god I was in Danville when I first got sick because my mom was able to not onnly take care of me (I havent been this sick in years) but also Rusty too! It was about 10 days before I felt better and so I went with my mom to walk Rusty a couple evenings and then I woke up feeling worse than before. After about another week, still no good so I went to the DR again and got new meds and it was pneumonia. NOT FUN. I've never had it before and don't recommend it.

Not only was I feeling miserable for the past 6 wks but I didn't run for about 5 wks straight and um yeah, I have my half marathon on Feb 24!! I'm still not feeling 100% (still coughing, sore throat, hurts to breathe when I run) but I guess it;s better than before! This week is my first full week back into running and it's been pretty painful running for even 45 mins so I am praying that I can at least make it through my race. I've gotten over the fact that I am not going to PR anymore but just enjoy this race and take picture stops with characters, maybe live-tweet the race hahaha! It's not a big deal to me as long as I finish at this point. It's my 4th half marathon so it's not like I don't think I can finish but moreso I just wont finish in the time I want. I was running an 11-12 min mile on my last 10 mile run but now I'm about 13 min mile so thats unfortunate.

ANYWAYS. I am excited about Disney World, seeing my sorority sis Maggie (we're rooming together for this race!!), the Race Expo (stock up on all my favorite running/runDisney items without paying shipping haha), going to all the parks, and genuinely enjoying this trip! I am so much better prepared than 2011 so that is comforting too. I have my compression capris, my tops, my minnie mouse sparkle skirt (CANT WAIT to post some pictures!!!) and I have some compression sleeves for the race/after for recovery. I have my fuel planned out really well too for the race (gu Chomps in strawberry and gu Gels in berry every 4 miles/45 mins) so I am going to stick with water for the first 10 miles and after I will switch to powerade if I'm struggling more than usual. What has been most annoying about this whole planning/process is runDisney dropping the ball on so many things. First, I think they are overwhelmed with all their events so far in 2013 (WDW Marathon wkend/Goofy, Tinkerbell in DL, and DPHM in a couple weeks). Usually final instructions and waivers, etc are released a month before the race but here we are 2 wks before the race weekend and I JUST got my bib number (8814!!!) and corral placement (D!!--of H corrals). I was 9697 in corral C (of E corrals) in 2011 but the race has grown so much in the past 2 years! There are nearly 23,000 runners in the half marathon (not even counting those who entered as a team) so I am still basically in the middle/top half of the runners. What the best part about this is that there are still 4 corrals after me and it gives me a 35 minute buffer from when the clock time starts (so I dont get swept) but Im not worried about that this year. I'm just getting more and more excited the more I think about race weekend and packing, etc. I can't wait to get down to Florida on the 22nd!

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of 2013: