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Still Alive – And Recovering

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Happy New Year, dear readers (both of you). No, I haven’t decided to just let this blog fade into the ether. Actually, it’s kind of funny, I had a bunch of content all planned out for December, starting with summaries of my last two marathons, and the lessons learned there. I’ll probably still post those at some point, because they’re interesting, but something happened that totally derailed all my December plans.

I got sick. Not like “Caught a little case of the sniffles” sick, or even “Nasty flu that knocks you out for a few days” sick. Nope, this was bedridden for a week, barely functional for two additional weeks, and finally back to myself (mostly) after almost five weeks. Thanks Corona-chan. Actually, it wasn’t so much the Chinese Flu that really knocked me flat, so much as the serious pneumonia that it brought on. Although the pulsing headaches and fever delusions during the Chinese Flu phase were no joke either.

Fortunately, as I said earlier, I’m mostly back to normal. Still working with some slightly diminished lung capacity while the last of the pneumonia stuff clears out, but at least I’m done with supplemental oxygen, which I was using in steadily decreasing levels for three weeks. At least I got to watch a lot of football while convalescing.

Cue thematically appropriate song.

Two more weeks, and I’ll finally be clear to restart my running program. I never thought I’d miss those endless winter treadmill miles, but I find that I absolutely do. I can hardly wait to get back in there, start up a podcast, and grind out some miles.

I feel like there ought to be a “Lessons Learned” kind of end to this thing, but I’m not sure what those would be. The same illness that knocked me out for the better part of a month went through the rest of the family too (they’re who gave it to me), and everyone else had a much milder time of it. I just drew the short straw, as it were. It was a good reminder that life is short and unexpected, and all my plans are subject to God’s will. Because of this reminder, I did resolve this year to get really intentional about accomplishing some of my long-term goals.

Maybe that’s the benefit. It took a major illness five and a half ago to shake me out of my complacency and start my fitness journey in the first place. Perhaps this is the push that I needed to keep moving down the purposeful road that I see ahead.

2022 is going to be interesting.