Can running get any worse?

I've reached a new low. Everything I wrote last week about addiction? Scrap it. I was high. And clearly not on running. Only a blast of the worst green could have induced that crap. OK, I'm exagerating, but just take a listen to this weeks running.

Last Saturday I was in Indianapolis and had a great run. 9 miles on a chilly fall day. Not so cold I couldn't bear it, but not so warm that my long sleeves and long running tights were too much. It was gorgeous really. Sunny, a flat course that took me 4.5 miles from my hotel through the countryside and then back. Yes, we were about a mile from the edge of town, and this is a big town. Think being in a hotel in the Dahlem area of Berlin. I mean way the fuck out there. Which was really only a nice thing when I needed to go for the run. Anyway, it was gorgeous.

Then I was given two days off and relaxed a little bit. I mean, as much as I could. While in Indiana, we encountered Indiana's first Daylight savings time ever. They were all confused. I had only one problem with it. That being all the time changes. Friday night: 3 hours forward, from PST to EST. Saturday: Back One hour to CST. Sunday: back to Cal, which is another 3 hours back from the one on Saturday. Needless to say, yours truly was up at 4:30 a.m. Monday and couldn't figure out why. It took me a few days to recover.

Tuesday went for my run over Twin Peaks, 4 miles total, and had a pretty good run. Still having shin troubles at mile 2 and can't figure out how to get rid of them. I'm going to have to go back into therapy, I think. So I stretched and ran and had a great run, really. Record time of under 36 minutes. I was stoked.

Wednesday, my leg itched, but hadn't shaved in awhile so I was thinking that was not so strange. Thursday, I've developed serious rash on my right leg, i.e. curbside. I'm not sure exactly what it is and don't have time to go to the Tang center until Friday. So, I go to RSF and try to do the 4 I'm scheduled for. I then suffer the curse of the Physical Therapist. I occasionally run into my PT at the RSF. First off, Kudos to him for being the first "DR." to practice what he preaches. He's there stretching like a fiend. I stretch and then try to do the treadmill, and this has happened once before. I see him and I can't do it. A mile into my run and my shin is so tight I feel again like Quasimodo on some Foucauldian torture device. I give up at a mile and go home.

Today, I call the Tang Center at 8 a.m. and get an appointment for 1:15. The rash on my leg now measures 6"x5" and is "weeping." I think that's the technical term. Well, as it turns out, and I knew this, I'm incredibly allergic to Poison Oak. It also turns out that evidently, this run, which I've done no less that 100 times over the past 10 years, has some poison oak along it's course. It's the only explanation. I'm not thinking it's very plausible, but having had poison oak before and actually missed work as a result. Yes, it's that bad. I'm pretty sure Poison Oak, whereever I found it, is what I have.

To make a short story long. This week of running has sucked ass. I'm going to try again tomorrow with the gay boys and see what happens. I'm slated to do a 5K and there isn't one in the area, so I'll just try the 3 mile really fast. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime here are the stats:

Total DIstance: 14 miles
Total Time: 129 minutes
Average: 9:15
Overall Impression: Don't Tell Them, But If They Don't Start Behavin' I'll Amputate (DTT,BITDSB'IA)

Update soon. And y'all owe some posts. What up Hater? Pacemaker? Don't leave me hangin' on this Marathon alone.