Dazed and Confused

After the tough race that I had at the Nike Half Marathon - I woke up with a pretty bad headache the next day. I thought it was just some after effects of the race so I thought nothing of it. However, the headache (kind of a "hangover" feel with pressure and slight dizziness) continued and it became hard to concentrate. My eyes also started feeling the pressure. In addition to my head bothering me, I found that I have been feeling pressure on top of and around my eyes. This was starting to make me a little nervous. What was causing this - was my vision getting slightly worse, too much time in the sun with no eye protection, eye strain, continued stress about what is causing this. Rest doesn't seem to help - sometimes it's worse when I wake up from a nap or rest. It seems to be bad in the morning when I wake and lasts throughout the day.

One of the reasons this was bumming me out was how it is affecting my running. I've been feeling "off" since before the half and continuing to today - almost two weeks since the half. I find myself much less motivated to run these days and it is a little disappointing. I kind of expected this to happen the year after I run the marathon - a letdown was inevitable. The same thing happened in 2003 after I ran the 2002 NYC marathon. It confirms the fact that I probably can't do a marathon 2 years in a row. It takes me a while to get my head clear and to get mentally and physically prepared to run a marathon. I ran the Nike half this year but it just hasn't felt the same. I'm not doing as many races this year as last year. I know you can't stay motivated to run at a high level all the time but I just want to get my "spark" back a little bit. I know it takes time. Evenutually you click in a race and you start to feel back to normal and excited to run again. That can take weeks or months or a year. After my first marathon, it took a couple years to get fully back to enjoying running and racing again. I feel like I am just going through the motions this year. Other than the half a couple of weeks ago, I haven't run a race since June - the Father's Day 5 miler. I usually like to do some of the smaller races just to give me some confidence that my speed is still there and to keep my motivation up. Unfortunately, I just haven't felt the need to do as many of them this year. Maybe I need a little break from running - some time off to get me recharged. I'm excited for all of my friends that are training for marathons. It's tough not to be training along side them since I enjoy it but I am so glad that I decided not to do one this year. I'm not ready to go through the mental and physical rigors that training for a marathon entails. I will do another one some day, I'm just not sure when yet. I'd love to do an international marathon - a great way to see and explore a city that I haven't been to before. I will definitely be volunteering for the NYC marathon this year at the Flyer Power Gel Station. It is a great way to stay involved in the marathon and be a part of the excitement and electricity the day brings. I told myself that I will run the Queens Half although it is a little bit of a struggle getting myself to train for it. I wanted to try and erase the tough memory of the Nike half going into next year. Maybe I'll try to run with someone for the first half of the race so I don't go out too fast and burn myself out.

Later.