The Valentine's Day 5k Massacre

I had to really force myself to write tonight because it's been a rough week so far, and writing when things are going poorly is always more difficult than throwing a funny, happy post up here.  My race on Sunday was so frustrating, but here is the review:

Valentines Day 5k Washington Park

The Good:
It was fun to run with my Valentine; we rarely get to do that together as he is much happier on skis or a bicycle.  The first mile and a half, I was on pace and feeling really good.  My iPod is ROCKIN' right now.

The Bad:
After maintaining my 10 minute mile pace for the first 15 minutes, my breathing issue kicked in and I immediately started choking on my breath.  Not to be graphic, but what is happening is that I am choking on snot.  It is draining down my throat, and as soon as I start breathing hard, I can't catch my breath.  This happens on and off and drives me absolutely insane.  I didn't make my goal time, and finished at around 38 minutes.  Not my best day at all.  Adding insult to injury, the next day I ran a 3.2 mile route to meet Mike and some friends for dinner so that we wouldn't have two cars at the restaurant.  I ran it in 33 minutes.  See?  I KNOW I can do it.  The only other real issue for this race was that the course was pretty slick with that wet snow falling.  Still, when you are going as slow as I was, that matters less and less.

The Resolution:
I really need to figure out what is up with my throat.  I have heard vocal chord dysfunction, gluten allergies and several other things, but what I need are some actual medical opinions.  Right now, though, I am between writing contracts, and so I am also currently between insurance coverage.  For now, I am just pushing through, and will keep doing so.


In addition to a rough race on Sunday, I have just kind of felt a little down on myself this week, and when that happens, I catch myself eating things I shouldn't and then just feeling worse.  Does anyone else experience that feeling of being able to do well with eating when you are not "watching what you eat" or "dieting", but as soon as you commit to it and say it out loud, you end up losing control?  What IS that?  I mean, besides infuriating?

Anyway, I am back on track and have had some really fun runs over the past two weeks.  When it starts getting fun, I know things are good.  Plus, I am 16 weeks away from my wedding as of this Saturday, and I know that will just serve as more motivation.

BLEHEHH!  I will just wait for this self-defeated feeling to pass and then be back next time with my usual positive attitude.  I promise.