The local indoor track from my recent POV, the bleachers. Via distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws.com

Constant illness has finally taken it’s toll and forced my Winter Track season to a violent close. A runner who was one of the top middle-distance prospects in the county coming off of a very successful cross country season couldn't even come close to the marks he set last year. A guy who in his Junior year DIDN’T GO ON ONE SINGLE DISTANCE RUN set times such as a 4:34 mile, 2:41 1000M, and 1:27 600M.

This year, his final year in high school, he ran a 4:42 mile and a 1:30 600M in Winter Track. Why? Constant and unrelenting sickness. An upper respiratory infection followed closely with a "viral bug" followed very soon after with a sinus infection and possible case of mono has brought my already lackluster season to an end. Today is the middle of January and honestly, the last time I woke up in the morning and felt good was the very beginning of December.

I had a stellar cross country season. I had never trained over the summer before, and decided this year was my year. I had many great races, and even posted the #5 time in NYS for the 5K at 15:42. Towards the end of the season, I did regrettably start to burnout, but still, for a kid who never committed fully to running until this year I think I did well.

But now, I’m currently not running. I put myself through hell this Winter. I came into the season just as dedicated as I was in Winter, the only thing that was different was that I kept getting sick. Every time I got sick, my coaches told me to just work through it. And I did. I truly do now know how I got myself through the workouts that I ran given how sick I was, it’s something I’m sure one day I’ll look back and be proud of. Running through it didn’t do me any good. I only wore down my already exhausted body even more. The harder I pushed, the worse I felt. In my mind, there is no "taking it easy" when it comes to running. I’m either going to give the workout everything I have or I simply won’t run it.

3 separate occasions I fell ill, took time off, then came back to practice and on my first day back had to run a demanding speed workout on the track (9x300, Ladder, etc). As I said, I worked my ass off to get back to where I was before I was sick, only to wear myself down and get even sicker. What a cruel irony it was.

After this final time, I told my head coach the news about my most recent visit to the doctors, and he told me that right now my priority is to get healthy, and that my season over. I had not posted any outstanding times and my last chance to get a good time was the very next day, and I was in no shape to be in school let alone run at all.

—-

So where does that leave me? Currently I’m awaiting the results of a ton of blood tests to come back. I’m enjoying my days off, given they have been few and far between since XC training began in June. I am left with a massive chunk of time between now and the beginning of Spring track to once again ready myself and mount a comeback. Today is January 16th and Spring Track begins early March. Step 1 right now is obviously, get healthy. Step 2 is simply to run. Just get out and start running as soon as possible. I’m going to need to have a good base of miles, hopefully around 60 miles a week going into Spring if I’m going to reach my goals in the 1600 and 800. I’m hopeful. Maybe I will find a new approach to running or find something meaningful along the way.