My Journey Through Rehab

Had the training run today which ran from 220nd St to Battery Park. It was a bitch waking up at 4, my plan was to catch a train at 5 and than a subway at 6:20. I wound up waiting for the 1 on the express side when I should have been on the local. Added an extra 20 minutes to the trip but I wound up meeting my friend when I got off so that actually worked out. We started at the 225th bridge and worked our way down to Riverside Park and than kept going straight downtown passing the piers to Battery Park. The weather was beautiful so instead of taking a subway back I decided to walk back to Penn Station. Passed by the WTC, city hall, Union Square. By the time I got back to Penn all I wanted to do was sit. Had 40 minutes to kill so I went to Tracks and got a pint of bud, that beer tasted great. My time wasn’t very good at 2:22 but it was an enjoyable run. The whole day in the city was great. I’ll be sleeping good tonight.

Gary

This is my last run for the week until the run on Sunday. I did 5 miles in a little over 43 minutes. Nothing spectacular but it was OK. I was gonna run Thursday but I’m going out for a couple of beers and wings tomorrow so that will push my workout til Thursday and I want a few days off from running before Sunday. Checked the train & subway schedules and I’ll have to get up a little after 4 and catch a 5:01 train and a 6:20 subway. The times are not ideal but I have Monday off to sleep in. Now I just need the weather to cooperate.

Had my last long run in preparation for next weeks race in Manhattan. It starts at 222nd St and ends in Battery Park and runs along the west side highway. Ran about 10.28 miles today. I can’t say that I really enjoyed. I should be able to do another 4 miles on top of it. I went back to earlier posts and had the same feelings back in April when I was running my first half marathon. One of the reasons I’m doing this one is because it is in Manhattan. After this though I don’t think I’ll do a long one for a while. I’ll keep it at the 5 mile or 10K mark. I enjoy that length and can finish it in about an hour. I’ll have to get up about 5 next week so I can catch a train to Penn Station and then get a Subway uptown. I’m shooting for under 2:15, I’ll post my results.

Went to see the doc today about the tic bite. I had pulled the tick off and saved it and gave it to the doc to send it to the lab. She told me it would take 8 to 10 days to get the results and today she says its could take up to 8 weeks. Turns out the first "estimate" was for a biopsy not a living insect. The blood test came back negative and she wants me to take another right after the labor day weekend. I haven’t had any rashes or blotches show up and she didn’t seem very concerned but told me to finish up the medicine. Got another week for that. I’m going to assume that I didn’t get the Lyme disease. You know what happens when you assume, just ask Oscar Madison. lol

Well it’s been a week since I saw the doc and started taking the medicine. There are still no rashes or red marks so I’m hoping it was just a regular tick with no diseases. I should have gotten the blood test results last Wednesday but I’m not really concerned about that one, I’m waiting for the results from the tick itself. Those should be back Friday or Monday. As for the medicine it’s starting to get to me. It said to take an hour and a half before or after meals but my stomach is bothering me so I’m gonna start taking them with food. The bottle says it’s ok this way they just prefer it on an empty stomach. I’ll be glad to get off this shit.

I’m still waiting to get the results from the doctor and I haven’t had any rash or markings near the bite so I’m hoping the tick didn’t have the Lyme disease. I know I’m not out of the woods yet but I’m somewhat encouraged. I bought some cutter to spray on before the runs and I’m checking myself after every run now.

Took the last week off from weights but I got back into it again today.

Went to the doctor today and she seemed to think the tick was on since Saturday. She doesn’t think I could have taken it off so easy unless it was on me for a day. I donated some blood for the Lyme disease test and she put me on doxycycline (?). I should get the results tomorrow and don’t really want to start taking the medicine until I have to. I’m going to bring in the tick so she can send it to the lab, I still have the sucker in a bottle walking around. More tomorrow.

I ran my usual long run on Sunday morning than washed and waxed the car. I take a shower and I’m drying off and notice this black thing on my right calf. I try knock it off and it didn’t move. Now i grab it off thinking it’s a small piece of dirt and throw it into the sink. It starts moving around and I realize it’s a small tick. It makes sense that it was on my right leg because the path I run is next to a parkway and theres usually overgrown shrubs around, I try to avoid the branches but every once in a while I run through the branch and I’ll have to stop doing that. Normally I would let it ride out and see if I get any symptoms of Lyme disease but my boss just went through it so I’m gonna have it checked out tomorrow. I’m hoping since I found it pretty quick it should be fine. I’ll find out soon enough.