Ella Eastin is a badass

My view this morning.  My toes got cold.
I eventually put slippers on.

Earlier this year, when I was watching the lead-up to the USA Swimming National Team selection meet, I knew of some of the backstory that was occurring with one of the team's rising stars, Ella Eastin.  I don't know Ella Eastin personally, and I first heard her name when we she was disqualified at nationals for what was technically an illegal turn in the 400IM due to what's known as "The Lochte Rule".  She had raced fast enough to qualify for World Championships, but the DQ would take her out of what would have been her spot on the World Championship team. Among swimmers, the rule is one of the most debatable messes ever.  In short, during the freestyle leg of an individual medley race, swimmers must be on their front after pushing off the wall, which runs contrary to how freestyle turns are executed in every other race in swimming.  She wasn't the only swimmer disqualified at this meet for exactly that reason, but she was certainly the highest placing one.



Fast forward to this year.  Ella Eastin was diagnosed with mono prior to the summer nationals, which serves as the selection meet for Pan Pacs, and then in combination with the results from Pan Pacs, for World Championships next year.  I had mono when I was in college and I swam when I was in college.  I did not, however, swim during the semester that I had mono and I feel like the idea of dragging your ass to the pool to preserve your chance to be on the national team for the next two years must have been ridiculously hard. Ella Eastin raced in the 200 fly at nationals, in prelims, and then did not swim the final, and then raced the 200 IM in both prelims and finals and placed 3rd, which was high enough to get her on the Pan Pac team.  I can imagine that she made the decision not to swim the 400 IM because of how grueling that race is, and what mono does to your endurance.

At Pan Pacs, she was the highest placing female US swimmer in the 200 IM, but the time she went was slower than the two women at US Nationals who were first and second at that meet.  Based on the qualification rules, they will compete at World Championships next year and not Ella Eastin.  If I had to guess, once Ella Eastin is fully recovered, she will dominate the scene in her events in swimming.  For now, it's a bittersweet story.  But watch for her in 2020.

I never imagined that while I was watching this unfold over the course of the summer that I would be sitting here writing this blog entry, specifically from this perspective. I know what mono felt like some 20+ years ago, and I wasn't anywhere near that level of swimming.  I slept 14 hours a day--I went to class, not always, and wound up dragging my ass through the semester.  It was one of the only semesters I did not pull down a 4.0 GPA--in fact, that semester and the final semester of my senior year were the only times I did not get all A's.  Mono beats the crap out of you--performing as high as she did on the international scene speaks to her grit and determination.

Until yesterday, I had thought that you get mono, you recover from it, and you're done.  I'd vaguely heard of Epstein-Barr virus, and didn't understand what its relationship is to mono.  And yesterday, my doctor called me and told me that I have what's commonly referred to as a recurrence of mono, or more specifically, reactivated Epstein-Barr virus. The tests that were run on me indicated that I clearly previously had it, and am currently in an acute reactivated phase of it.

Denial is powerful.  V8 does not cure Epstein-Barr.

Prior to my colonoscopy last week, I felt tired and run-down.  I wasn't having the greatest of workouts.  I bailed out of the half marathon I was running at the 4 and a half mile mark.  In all likelihood, this hit me sometime before then, but it would take the colonoscopy to point out to me exactly how much I had been knocked on my ass.  I told myself (and I told my doctor and I told my triathlon coach) that I was sure this was just dehydration and an electrolytic imbalance that was the result of the colonoscopy prep.  I decided I was going to fix myself with V8.  And I tried, and it basically didn't do jack.  I'm sure my doctor knew--doctors always know, and I'm sure he just let me believe it, because drinking a few extra V8's is highly unlikely to cause any sort of long term damage, and is probably beneficial from the standpoint of keeping your body balanced while fighting Epstein-Barr back in to remission.

So, what's up next?  Sleeping.  And resting.  And not working out.  I'll go for a walk.  As for long course nationals in 3 weeks?  A race that is 3 hours and some change right now is probably exactly what I would need to extend this mess and cause a further relapse of Epstein-Barr.  While I think I wouldn't have a problem placing in the top 18 of my age group and getting on the team for age group worlds next year, let's be real--doing so is not a good plan.  I'm not in the position Ella Eastin is, who is at the height of her swimming career and racing against the best in the world.  My best option is to completely recover from this, and then make a run at it next year.  Age group worlds will be there year after year, unlike the the elite level of any sport, where you've got this very finite number of shots at it, if you are able to compete at that level.

Just because.  Maybe I'll watch Top Gun soon.

As for my medical prognosis--who the fuck knows?  Reactivated Epstein-Barr is rare, and there is precious little on the web about how long it takes to recover from it.  It's probably less than the time to recover from a primary infection, but when that time was several months 20-some-odd years ago in college, what does "less than several months" really mean?  All I really know is what my doctor said, that some people rest for a week, go back to work for one day, and then it's too much for them, and they have to take some more time.  Some people manage to work, but that's all they can do.  It sounds like a real recovery is something like a few weeks of rest.  Time will tell. 

As I've found out in the last day, I have the added complication that I can't take a week off, go back to work for a day, and then have to take more time off because of the rules regarding short term disability.  The first 7 days out of the office for me are currently hitting my vacation time, and after that, disability kicks in.  Going to work for one day resets that 7 day counter.  I'll just have to figure that out in the next day or two.

Anyway--see you on the other side.  And if you have suggestions on shows to binge watch on TV, let me hear them!

Fell apart in Long Beach

I'm staring at the title that I just wrote and realizing that this post could be about any number of things.  It is not about my mental health--that seems to be under control now.

Today, I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon, or at least I made an attempt to run it.  At 4.6 miles, I cashed it in and stopped running and walked to my car.  I started this race pretty conservatively, executing the plan that my coach and I had discussed about how to run this race--it isn't, and never was a major goal race of mine, which puts it in a whole different category of what a success is defined as.  Stopping a third of the way into the race doesn't reach the level of any definition of success, except that I was successful in recognizing that suffering for the next 9 miles was probably going to cause an injury that would be the worst possible outcome of the day.  Well, except dying.  Dying pretty much trumps everything.

My knee started screaming at me, very suddenly, very shortly after I just exchanged some conversation with my friend, Chuck.  I was due to walk up the overpass we'd reached anyway....the plan was to hold something like 9 minute miles and walk up the hills to minimize the chances of post race day recovery that I have very hard times dealing with from a hard running race.  I thought this walk might let my knee loosen up a little bit.  It did not.  The subsequent slow jog downhill was excruciating.  I stopped and stretched, focusing on my IT band and it loosened up for a little bit.  I slowed down the pace to see how long I could make this last, and that turned out to be 3 minutes until it tightened up and screamed at me again.

There was no way I was going to make it through another 9 miles like this.  Luckily, the beginning of this course goes out to the west, and does several passes back near to where it begins--I was not that far from my car.  I walked off the course, got in my car, and drove home.

I had a week that did not treat me well--having gotten a vaccination on Friday that knocked me on my ass more than I expected it to.  "Muscle and joint pain" is listed as a common side effect of this particular one--it might be that.  It might not.  It might just be that it knocked me on my ass, and similar to anything that's like an illness, it might have left my body not functioning quite right for a while.  And running any sort of long distance is consistently the hardest thing I do to my body.  Some people are more biomechanically blessed for running than I am--a hard run of any distance beats the crap out of me.  That's probably why I generally enjoy it.

So, I'm going to get back up on the horse....not today, maybe

tomorrow, or maybe after I get through this colonoscopy this week.  Maybe I need to do more strength work--focusing on that a little more can't possibly be a bad thing as I age.

Long Course Nationals in Miami!

One of the tactics I employed while getting ready for my first Ironman (so many years ago), was to let everyone I possibly could know that I was doing it.  The motivation behind this was not, "Hey look at me, I'm bragging about doing this crazy-ass ridiculous sport."  It was much, much more selfish than that.  I knew that, in the middle of a 140.6 mile long race, any number of reasons for not finishing could start to make sense to me.  I also knew that if everyone I knew was aware I was doing it, nothing short of physical danger to myself was going to cause me to voluntarily quit the race.

So, I'm being selfish again, and I'm putting it out there to be held accountable again.  Sometime during my trip to Brazil, I decided I wanted to switch things up a little bit, and make a run for qualifying for age group worlds to represent Team USA in Spain next year.  Long Course Multisport Nationals is the place you have to qualify for this event, and it's Miami in early November.  I do not have a shot in hell to qualify for the team in the half-iron distance triathlon.  My running capabilities make that the case, but I am (of course) exaggerating a bit.  My best half iron time is 5:19, but that was done on a course that was a little short, so it's probably reasonable to say my best time is more in the 5:30 to 5:40 range.   With the top 18 places in each age group going, the 18th place in the age groups that matter for me (I'm going up an age group next year) were 5:47 (40-44) and 5:33 (45-49) last year.  I'm aware that last year's race was a hot and windy day, so the times may not be consistent with the courses I've done my best times on....though Vineman 70.3--that's a maybe.


In any case, it would require a good, if not great, performance from me to make the team in that event, and all of the stars would have to line up correctly, and it's something I'll consider in the future. This year though, I've said I always wanted to try an aquabike event, because it's no secret that running is my third best sport in a triathlon, to put it mildly. Sometimes, I wonder what goes through people's heads when they pass me during a run at the end of a triathlon--I'm certain that anyone vying for a spot on the podium is basically like "Good, one more down."  Though, others may have an internal dialogue going that amounts to "Dude, you can't run for shit."  Don't get me wrong--I enjoy running, and it's continuing to improve for me.  It just remains the sport that has the most room for improvement.

The Aquabike is a fairly new introduction to the world of multi-sport competition.  One reference I found said that it became official in 2010.  The race consists of a swim and a bike, with no run following, and it's really kind of ideally suited for someone like me, or for someone who was once a triathlete that can't run anymore due to injury, or anyone really, who wants to give it a shot.  It is not, however, heavily competed.  At long course nationals in November, the Aquabike is a 1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike. There are 18 slots for age group world qualification in each age group at nationals, and there were 10 people and 13 people that finished the race in the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups last year.

This comes as a bit of a double edged sword for me. I'd like to qualify for worlds, and then go on to compete at them and race (as an age grouper) for Team USA, but I also like to have a challenge. For anyone who doesn't know, this level of competition, at least to qualify, is a hell of a lot lower bar than anything regarding anyone qualifying for a USA national team at the elite level.  But it's a good goal for me, and something I think would be fun to pursue.


So, the primary goal is always to go out and have a good time doing it.  Secondary to that is qualifying for worlds, and then the third level goal is seeing how high I can place at nationals.  Beyond that, I have another goal in mind that the measurement of my success is going to be something like--did I race a time in the Aquabike that would have put me in the top 18 at the end of the bike in the half iron distance triathlon?  That event is a lot more heavily competed, and while people do go a bit slower on the bike than they would if they didn't have a run to do, the difference is not as large as you might think it is. Don't get me wrong--if I don't race faster than that theoretical 18th place time, and I still qualify in the Aquabike, I'm going to take that and be happy as a clam. I'm just going to think better of the effort if I do go faster than number 18 off the bike in the triathlon.

So, that's it! It's what I'm doing in November in Miami, and then hopefully again in May in Spain. And if you want to get into Aquabike--come on out!  I'd love to see this discipline of multi-sport grow.

And I'm not done running--I'm doing the Long Beach half marathon the month before this race in Miami--and I love running...it puts my head in a zone that no other sport does.

Being an athlete does not make you immune to age.

As most endurance athletes do, I have to
supplement salt due to heavy sweating during
long workouts.

I've known for a very long time that there would eventually come a day when my blood pressure would rise, and stay risen, and, in all likelihood, require life long medication to control it.

I'm not a hundred percent certain that's where I'm at now, but I am now on a blood pressure medication, as I was for a short period of time in my 30s. Back then, it turned out to be this transient issue, that might have been due to stress, or a temporary reduction in my training regimen, or whatever it was at the time. If anything, I've grown to understand that medicine is not an exact science, but can sometimes be a series of trials guided by scientifically backed studies and principles. I will never know what the root cause of that temporary spike was in my 30s, but I do know that I've been predisposed to this sort of thing all my life.

Blood pressure tends to rise with age due to a number of factors, some of which can be controlled through "lifestyle changes" (ie. diet and exercise, and stress reduction), and others that cannot be avoided. Structural changes in the body essentially amount to increased artery stiffness which may or may not be associated with heart disease.

My blood pressure has consistently hovered around 130/80 to 140/90 since as far back as we could find medical records on me (back to age 7), when I first had to have this conversation with my doctor shortly after I got out of college. We decided to watch it, and about 10 years later, I wound up with my first round of BP driven higher by a number of factors--job stress was quite high at the time, and I was at a relative downturn in my athletic training. I was swimming and beginning to train for what would be the first marathon I completed, but I was in denial about that marathon--I thought I was calling Brian's bluff when he said he wanted to do one, and I half-heartedly went through the training plan and got to the start line--I walked the last 8 miles of that marathon.

During that time, I had a number of appointments with several cardiologists and a nephrologist.  It was when I discovered that I have a PFO with atrial septal aneurysm, which sounds a lot scarier than it actually is.  It's a flappy opening between the atrial chambers of my heart, and a weak wall that moves with every beat of my heart.  The combination of the two is considered not common (2-3% of the population is estimated to have that, while the PFO by itself is probably present in 20% of the population).  Long story short--I had to have a TEE (trans-esophogeal echocardiagram) to diagnose the thing, and I do not recommend this procedure to anyone--having an echo machine shoved down your throat while you're conscious and being told to move around and strain your abdomen is not a fun way to spend an afternoon. I carry an increased risk for stroke because of this, and take daily aspirin to reduce that risk.

In any case, I thought my blood pressure was related to this structure, until I was told otherwise--kidneys control your blood pressure, not this structural heart abnormality.  I went on blood pressure meds--at first a diuretic, and was told to limit my salt intake, and watch my diet, and do all the things cardiologists are trained to tell their patients that they assume are sedentary and don't sweat out all that salt all the time.  I cramped up and become unable to train, and I would sweat profusely under the easiest of workouts, and then cramp up some more.  I came to the conclusion that a drug that left me unable to exercise was probably going to have worse consequences in the long term than what it was treating me for.  My first cardiologist suffered from a bit of a god complex--I couldn't get a word in edgewise to ask about details like this, so I left him and went elsewhere.  I wound up on a drug called Atacand, which worked for a while, and then overdid its job, and my doctor cut down the dosage, and then cut it down some more, and then some more.  I eventually came off of it, and my blood pressure stayed in the normal zone for me.

My guess is that the way my first cardiologist treated me is not uncommon--a very common issue that causes BP increases in people as they age is an imbalance in electrolytic salts that increases BP, and a diuretic is appropriate in these cases. They see a guy in his 30's, assume that's what it is, and write it off as an everyday common occurrence. It also turns out that sweating 5 or 6 days out of the week does the same thing, and combining the two can be disastrous. At the time, maybe my temporary increase in BP was due to a salt issue--I was on the upswing of a training plan that turned into the very active triathlete lifestyle that I have now. Maybe it wasn't--I won't ever know for sure. What I do know is that exercise can help to ward off blood pressure increases because of salt issues, but it doesn't make you immune to other causes.

I got a good reading the other day
Hopefully, it will stabilize there!

Increasing inflexibility of the arteries is something that happens with age--in some people, it's later in life than others. Ignoring it is the biggest problem, because increases in blood pressure are associated with significant medical events (heart attack, stroke, kidney damage to name a few). You are not immune to this just because you work out all the time.  So, if you're not having physicals on a regular basis, get on that. And if you're not seeing a doctor you can have conversations with about all of these things, find another one.

Exercise can (and does) help. It's just that it's not a guaranteed cure--in my case, it probably staved off the inevitable for a good 20 years or so. Maybe I'll need to stay on this drug for the long term, or maybe I'll have a similar reduction over time like I did in my 30s...I'll work with my doc on that one.

Stay healthy, and live long!

What's it all about?

In the summer between my senior year in high school and freshman year in college, I competed at the only Junior National Swimming Championships I ever went to.  I earned what I did to get there, but I didn't qualify for the meet.  At the time, the standard for men to qualify for this meet was 54.39 in the 100 meter free, and that season I went what would be my lifetime best of exactly 55.00 seconds, and in retrospect, that's not too shabby.  I swam relays at this meet, and it was perhaps one of the most interesting experiences in athletics I have ever had.  For those who don't know, Junior Nationals is, perhaps, the point at which elite level swimming begins, and for those that go on to bigger levels, a stepping stone towards the pinnacle of the sport.  So, I earned what I did to get there--my time that season was used to put in the qualifying time for our team for relays to compete in that meet, and I chose to go to this meet over the Zone Championship that I qualified for in the process of swimming that time.  However, it never felt like I belonged there--the literal pool of talent so far exceeded anything that I was capable of that I felt like an outsider, and that I had somehow cheated my way into the meet--officially I was not even registered in the meet, since relay only swimmers were in a different classification.

As time went by, when I would talk with other swimmers about this, I would always have to qualify my description of that meet with "I only swam relays." Sometimes I have said that it killed the experience for me, but the reality is that I always appreciated being there, and being able to participate in the biggest athletic event I've ever been in. But it's only been by putting it in the context of "I earned getting there--I just didn't get as far as I dreamed I wanted to."

So, I wonder what it is with all of the people in athletics that take every shortcut possible--every avenue, including the use of performance enhancing drugs to climb their way up the ladder to international glory, or professional level sporting. What is it that drives a person to want to achieve something that they didn't earn?

People have their theories--there are many explanations that have been proposed about what causes one person to decide that it's ok to cheat. Certainly, once money becomes a significant factor in racing, there's a stronger likelihood that someone in the field is doing some sort of drug use to get there.  That major motivating factor is likely what drove the ring-leader of the US Cycling scandal to do what he did, and it probably has led to countless others in lesser funded sports.  Fame, glory, the desire to stand on top of a podium and be told that you're the best--that's an explanation that holds water.

At the forefront of today's headlines is the story that the country of Russia was banned from competing at the Winter Olympics.  A process was put into place that allowed Russian athletes that had not been involved in this particular systematic doping scandal to still be allowed to compete, but not as a member of what would have been Team Russia.  In this case, it's easy to believe that politics and the desire of a country to prove that they are the best at any cost is what went into this.  No doubt that Russia applied pressure to its athletes to force some of them to participate in the doping plans either against their will or with the promise of significant incentives--that doesn't make them any less guilty of what they did, but it does paint the picture of what a massive national organization is capable of to "prove" that their team is the best.

At a lower level, and something that has shocked me since I learned of it, is that there has been a rise in doping at the amateur and age group level in sports such as triathlon.  There is no money in this sport--well, there is some money at the professional level, but for an age group competitor; the type of which I compete against?  No.  No money.  That part of the equation is immediately removed.  I would venture to guess that I have never been in a race with someone who is participant of a systematic doping program....well, except for the possibility that Lance Armstrong was in small triathlons that were not sanctioned by USAT while his final fate was being decided.

Estimates of doping in the amateur triathlete population are difficult to get a handle on.  A study done in 2013 based on anonymous surveys of triathletes showed results of 13-15% of those athletes admitted to doping (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0078702).  That's somewhere in the ballpark of 1 in every 7 athletes is actively taking banned substances.  This study did much more than just try to establish if and what number of athletes are doping--it looked for things like correlations between people taking illicit doping substances and their use of legal substances, such as caffeine, that serve as performance enhancers.  The point, however, is that 1 in 7 athletes is huge.  Why are these people doing this?

Some may be trying to break into the professional ranks of triathletes--that doesn't explain the high numbers, since only a fraction of triathletes are in a position to potentially cross that threshold.  Some may be doping to qualify for the age group world championships.  Some may be doping just because they want to win.  Whatever the case, there appears to be a huge number of athletes that are actively cheating and racing in the amateur ranks.

I can't get my head wrapped around this--the study was 2997 triathletes, which means that 13% of that number is close to 400 athletes with admitted (but anonymously admitted) doping. Does 13% of the field really feel that the most important thing is to win at all costs? 

I've always thought that if I got there, and I didn't earn it, I simply didn't belong there.

A lifelong undiagnosed case of ADHD?

I'm extraordinarily happy to say that since my last blog post, I've had a dramatic improvement in the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and otherwise annoying feelings that I've been experiencing. These peaked this year, likely due to the series "undesirable events" that I dealt with--I'll save you the rehash on those...I think I've blogged enough about them, and it's time to move forward.

My dogs have always made me happy, so that's why
 they're in this post.  This is Barrett

Moving forward has taken a different path for me that I might have ever imagined. At the last appointment I had with my psychiatrist, we discussed the very real possibility that I may be dealing with a case of ADHD, which has been missed, and attributed to episodes of depression since my teenage years. As I write this post, and this is due to the engineering side of my brain, the diagnosis is not 100% certain, though it never really is, since medicine, and in particular medicine in the field of mental health is a substantial amount of art combined with science and medical knowledge.



Everyone knows what a hyperactive kid looks like--and that is somewhat difficult to miss--he or she has problems staying still, can't focus on a damn thing, and often breaks down into screaming fits for very little or no reason whatsoever.  That was never me. What was me is this form of ADHD known as inattentive type ADHD which presents in a different way. It's a lack of focus that takes the shape of the day-dreamer, resulting in things like an inability to stay involved in a conversation, doing things like rushing through tests and quizzes unnecessarily fast and making careless errors on them, starting but not finishing project after project, forgetting where you leave things like your keys or your wallet and having to spend endless time finding them. Reading through this list (https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/symptoms-of-inattentive-adhd/) makes me think "This is me, and this has been me ever since I can remember."

Josie and Max after dog park

There are a number of reasons why I can imagine this got missed--first and foremost is that a large percentage of inattentive type ADHD cases go undiagnosed. Estimates vary, but somewhere on the order of 50%-75% of adults with ADHD go undetected (https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/other-related-conditions/adult-adhd#). In addition to that, inattentive type ADHD affects women and girls more often than it affects men and boys.

Additionally, long periods of my life were occupied with things that resulted in self-treatment of ADHD symptoms. Exercise is one of those things, due to exercise's effect to aid in increased levels of dopamine in the brain (https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/adult-adhd-and-exercise#1). During my high school days and portions of college, I was a swimmer, training upwards of 5 hours a day, and my ability to focus on things was reasonable.  It helped that I was good at school--I was the master of the "study break"--which is exactly the opposite of what you're thinking. I would spend an hour doing anything else, and then 5 minutes studying and absorbing some piece of material until I understood it and lost interest in studying it anymore. I swam in college, and then I didn't swim, and then I swam again when I lost my direction. In the off-swimming semesters, I became a caffeine addict and it turns out that caffeine is also a treatment for ADHD, although a somewhat less effective one (https://www.additudemag.com/treatment/caffeine/). At the peak of my caffeine issues in my adult life, I was consuming 12 shots of espresso a day.

Max--most photogenic dog ever

Some semesters in college, I resorted to alcohol, and substance abuse is clearly associated with untreated ADHD. People turn to alcohol (or some people turn to other substances) as a way to quiet the mind, or in some cases, to relax inhibitions to incite the impulsivity issues that go along with ADHD. I say that I drank a lot during some semesters in college--that statement is often a no-brainer.  College is a place where people tend to experiment with drinking, and often do it a lot. It's a societal norm. The thing is that I drank a lot during the semesters that I wasn't swimming, that I wasn't overly focused on finding a way to stay on top of school work (drinking a pot of coffee a day), and often to get through some of the more mundane tasks I had to deal with. There was a structural analysis class that I went to either already buzzing or with an alcoholic drink in my hand because it bored the crap out of me--when it came time to take the final, I decided I had to be in the same state of mind that I learned the material in, so I went for drinks before it. I got an A, and I believe one of the highest scores in the class.

Josie

These types of self medication (exercise, caffeine, alcohol) are common in people with undiagnosed ADHD. Some people who are open to it, and able to do it, also resort to marijuana--which I'm unable to try due to my job. Interestingly enough, out of those self medication options, weed may be the best option of them all, but it remains illegal at a federal level, and therefore is not an option for me in my profession.

So my psychiatrist put me on Adderall, and when the dosage was increased to where it is now, I saw an immediate and profound effect in my ability to get through my day. Tasks became less daunting. Challenging work became interesting again, as opposed to just being aggravating. Over time, my level of happiness has increased to the point where the job that I'm dealing with now, while on travel, is difficult, but more in the vein of a "challenging and interestingly type of difficult." Don't get me wrong--having to leave the hotel at 5am to get to a maneuver this morning was not my preference, but it didn't seem like the weight of the world was crushing me either.

In the world of triathlon, I look forward to workouts now. I've signed up for a couple of races in April and May, and I'm working out what my larger goals are for the year. I feel like life is resuming for me.

So now I'm off to get a run in along the Seine. It's really one of the most picturesque places in the world to go running--I'm very lucky that way.

Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty