TITLE: A Lost Summer
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: August 19, 2008  1:21 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
For the last five years, mid-August has meant more than
getting ready for fall semester.  It has meant 50+ mile
weeks.  It has meant once or twice weekly track workouts.
It has meant hours each week running, before dawn in
cool, moist air; in newly-risen sunlight; in the rain.

A month ago I was
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-07.html#e2008-07-13T21_33_35.htm">
   still figuring things out</A>
about my running, hoping to get well all the while.
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten well.  At times, I have
gotten better, but never well, and punctuated every
couple of weeks by a return of the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-06.html#e2008-06-09T16_48_00.htm">
   same symptoms</A>
that have dogged me since May 2.  I've been running since
early June, because I wasn't getting better anyway.  The
last month or two, I have managed between 24 and 29 miles
each week, with one 31.5-mile week that left tired for a
week afterwards.  Many people think that 25-30 mile weeks
are awesome, but for me they aren't, and all the while
I'm looking to get better.

My doctor is baffled.  He has run every test he can imagine,
and all he and his nurses can say is, man, you are healthy.
That's good news!  ... except for the part of not being
well.

We'll keep looking, and I'll keep plodding along.  But I
really miss the summer of running I didn't have.  August
isn't quite the same.
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