Dr., Dr., give me the news...

I've got a bad case of the running blues.

I decided to pay a return visit to the Dr. after I left work yesterday. I apparently still have my bronchitis, which didn't surprise me given my ongoing cough and trouble breathing. I was a little surprised however to learn that I may have another bug that could be more problematic. I was prescribed a couple of different antibiotics and told to come back in on Saturday. Not the way I want to spend the weekend.

I write all of this to partially explain my troubles recently and to also preface my recounting of today's Tidal Basin 5K. Yes, I ran today's race knowing I had bronchitis. I also knew I felt like crap and I had barely slept the last 2 nights. But I identify myself as a runner and it's what I do. So I got myself down to the Tidal Basin with about 5 minutes to spare. I saw several people I usually speak to before the race...Peter Blank, Shirley Sameshima, Kirk Gordon, James Moreland...but I just didn't feel like talking to anyone today. After I signed in, I walked across the street to the bus stop and sat on a bench by myself until the start of the race.

It was a wonderful day weather wise which certainly helped me today. It was 71 degrees under clear skies. Perfect would have been about 15 degrees cooler but this was pretty darn good.

I did something different today...I started slow. This was partially by design and partially by necessity. I slipped in behind John Winkert and Bob Weimer (who was suffering from a bad back) with the Joggler, Barry Goldmeir, in close pursuit.

Barry passed me as we crossed the first bridge. He can't really juggle here so he can show of his non-jugling speed here. He exchaned places a few times with Bob and John over the next .4 miles, slipping behind whenever he dropped a ball.

I finally stopped for a walk break after crossing the 2nd bridge, which is also the 1 mile mark, which I reached in 10:15. Not bad, but I needed an extended break at this point...about 90 seconds. By the time I started running again, the 3 guys were almost out of sight. I only ran for a couple of minutes before needing another short walk. Then I hit the downhill by the Jefferson and fell back into my slow trot. I ran to the 3rd bridge where I took another short walk before the final K. I ran all the way in from here, getting encouragement from a few runners that were heading back to work, including Kirk.

I crossed the line in 20:14 by my watch. Surprisingly, I wasn't too displeased by this even though it was over a minute slower than last month. It was a second slower than my time from just a couple of months ago and I obviously had a lot more issues to deal with today.

Bob Platt announced before the start of the race that another 3K will be held at the Tidal Basin this Friday at Noon. Unfortunately, I have a meeting here in Tyson's until Noon that day so I won't be able to make it. Probably for the best anyway. Today was race number 38 for the year. Number 39 will just to wait another day (Navy 5K?) or two.