Shamrock'n wrap up

Okay, I know this is very late but I just haven't been in the blogging mood. I've been a little stressed out. I seem to have a new ailment every week and every weekend I've been stuck in bed so my training is suffering and as a result, so are my race times. I know I said from the beginning of this crazy 13 in '13 goal that I wasn't going to stress on times this year since I have so many half of marathons on my race schedule but three hours is ridicules! So my little illness depression has made it harder for me to get on here and blog.

The day of the Shamrock'n half was a great day for or a run. The sun was shinning, it was a little cold at the start but not bad. The volunteers where great, the crowds or people cheering us on where great but I did not have a great race. Let me rewind to the weekend before this event. It was the Lucky Run half and around mile 9 my feet were killing me. That familiar feeling you get when you have exceeded the amount of miles your shoes where intended for. If you're not runner you may never experience this feeling so I'll explain what it feels like for me. My feet start to feel achy and sore at the same time and usually start to rub raw in places they have never rubbed raw in before. So the last four miles of that event where not good. I actually had to walk most of it. It was pretty obviously I needed new shoes. However, I had this event the next weekend and I didn't think I would have enough time to break in a new pair of shoes. This whole situation is every familiar to me. I ran the Shamrock'n in bran new shoes last year for the same reason and I was miserable for the entire race. I chose to wear the old shoes this year. It was painful but looking back I would have made the same choice. The next day I went down to Fleet Feet and got some new kicks and I am so excited to run my next event in them!

If I choose to run this again next year I need to remember to get new shoes in late January or early February. It would be awesome to come running around the warning track at Raley Field not feeling like I just shot myself in both feet.

Now for the medical crap. The week before the Shamrock'n half I was diagnosed with MRSA. If you don't know what that is don't feel bad, I didn't know either. This is what WebMD said:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body. It's tougher to treat than most strains of staphylococcus aureus -- or staph -- because it's resistant to some commonly used antibiotics.

The symptoms of MRSA depend on where you're infected. Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, like sores or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract.

Though most MRSA infections aren't serious, some can be life-threatening. Many public health experts are alarmed by the spread of tough strains of MRSA. Because it's hard to treat, MRSA is sometimes called a "super bug."

I was on a round of two antibiotics, eye drops and ointment. It sucked! And it sucked all my energy. Like it's not hard enough to get moving after a twelve hour workday and chores and feeding the family. But it's all gone now.

Now I'm getting ready for the Running of the Elk half. It'll be this Sunday and yesterday I had a root canal. Over the weekend and half of last week I missed all my workouts because of an infection in a broken molar. I'll be finishing up yet another round of antibiotics tomorrow. I really hope this is it for a while. It would be nice to get some training in and have a respectable race time. Is that asking for too much? I don't think so.