Last weekend's lesson

I've kind of been waiting to see how I stacked up against everybody else on Saturday. Between wanting to get out to see Lee on the Geysers and just feeling so awful, I left pretty quickly after the race was finished.

So hey, I got 4th in my age group. Not bad, I lost 3rd by under a minute. Not bad at all given my condition!

Was it worth it, though?

Ultimately I say NO!

Saturday taught me a very valuable lesson (for me) - when in doubt about your body, just say NO!!! I (along with many other athletes, I am sure) tend to think I'm wussing out if I rest instead of participate. I reason that it's possible the activity I'm intended to do might just make me feel BETTER instead of worse.

However, even the litmus test of swimming (sometimes if I feel a cold coming on, a good 40 min swim often makes me feel better, not worse) on Friday evening had failed. I couldn't make any intervals, my swim buddies were chiding me and asking "hey, isn't Masters swimming supposed to make you FASTER? Maybe you should come back to swimming with us!" and I still had zero energy.

In that, the event was simply no fun. I attempted to take in the beautiful views from the tops of the hills I had to work so hard to climb. I tried to look out to Mt. Tam and Mt. Diablo and be so excited to see so far and feel like I was halfway up to the top of the world! But in the end, I just wasn't feeling it.

In a race that isn't going my way for some reason or another, I can still do my best to enjoy some aspect of it, and choose at least one thing to succeed at. But when health is the limiter and every step is a collective effort of the body and mind - it's not a race I should be running.

Next time, I'll be sure to sleep in and get my rest. :)