Saturday, April 5, 2008

Ukrops 10K

I had so much fun doing the Hunter sketch and was so pleased with the reaction to it (Thanks, everybody!) that I couldn't wait to do another sketch. Problem is, most of the time I get my sketching done in my "downtime" at work and that was in short supply this week. I've been really busy at work and, though I try not to discuss it much here, there's been a lot to do in my free time dealing with Mike's affairs. Add to that a pretty bad cold and I had to let the sketch fall to the wayside.

So with all this going on, I really wasn't looking forward to this weekend. Suzanne and I have been training for the last 10 weeks for the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K. This is our fourth time running it in five years and my times have gotten steadily worse over the years. (I missed one year because I threw my back out and it took me over three months to recover from it.) Our training group this year was not what we'd hoped. Last year it was a well-oiled machine but this year their hearts weren't in it. We got rotating trainers, spotty stretching, late starting times and really bad street directions. I got lost twice, once pretty badly. The training is in a small town called Ashland that I'm not that familiar with and all the streets seem to do figure-eights.

Once I caught the cold I'd pretty much decided to bag the race. But after all that effort, training in freezing temperatures, I just couldn't let it go. I downed some cold medicine with my coffee (Is that considered doping?) and suited up. Wouldn't you know it, but it rained the entire race. It felt like someone was trying to tell me something. I ignored them. I managed to run the first half without stopping, walked a bit to catch my breath and then ran the rest of the way. I did my best time since the first time I ran it. The moment I crossed the finish line, the rain stopped and the sun came out. I had to laugh. Suze and I celebrated our run with a trip to Carytown Burgers and Fries, the best burger joint in town, and went home to hit the sack. When I woke up a few hours later, I noticed the second toenail on my left foot has turned black and I'll probably lose it. I guess those new running shoes I bought are tighter than I thought. But my cold has improved immensely. Go figure. Maybe I burned it off with all that exertion.

Anyway, no sketch but this still turned out to be a pretty good week after all.

6 comments:

Tim Perkins said...

Hi Matt,

My best cold cure was given to me by my wife, Margaret, way back in 1983.

I was smothered in a cold, aching, raging temperature - yet feeling stone cold, my eyes were streaming...you know the kind of thing.

My wife was pregnant at the time and expecting our first child. Due to this I decided to sleep downstairs in front of the roaring fire, hoping to keep Margaret from catching it.

It was around 2:30 in the morning and I awoke to see Margaret coming through the door and heard these immortal words..."Tim...my waters have broke..."

Well anyone having seen Steve Martin in Father of the Bride 2 will know where this is going...

From being totally under the influence of one almighty cold I was up...totally alert (so much so I could have been appearing with Arnold in one of his action movies with the creature about to attack).

By the time Margaret had been settled in the maternity hospital side room ward the cold was no more than the very occasional sniff.

By around 4:30 the first rays of June sunlight (a rare event here in the UK) came over the horizon outside the window and the sniffs were almost forgotten. The view outside was wonderful and the grounds to the hospital, sadly no longer there, were full of baby rabbits. It was like something out of an animated film.

By 6:30 a.m. with my wife about to give birth the cold was gone and a new ailment struck...of a kind...it was just a pain really as Margaret tried to snap my arm off at the elbow.

One of the midwives asked, "Are you alright?" I figured she meant my wife and I said yes I thinks she's doing okay...

The mid wife then explained..."No I meant you. You look like your arm is about to come off".

So the best cure I have ever had for a cold came in the little package that was my daughter Joanne.

Trouble is you need to time this kind of thing exactly right, because I have had colds and flu since, but never managed to repeat the cure...

I was fine when Simon was born, although on the day, I had a deadline to meet for a cover of Thundercats for Marvel UK and being better prepared the second time around, I ended up inking it whilst we waited in the hospital.

Hope you are feeling better now.

Best Wishes,
Tim...
;))

renecarol said...

Sorry to hear you've been sick. But that is great you got your second best time. Sometimes that happens when you least expect it. I haven't done many races in the last few years. At my previous job we had a group who ran at lunch and that was great motivation. And Mike used to run with me after work before his back got too bad. So my motivation to run dissipated. And I've struggled to get it back. But the last month or so I've been doing pretty well. Not ready to run a 10k (my best 10k was around 56 minutes I think) so it'd probably take me an hour and a half now.. I've no intentions of running that long.

Anonymous said...

Hey Matt,
Sorry to hear you were feeling so miserable, but glad that you're better.

It's great that your time improved. If I ever do a run like that, I'll try the "cold medicine with coffee" trick. Just kidding :)

I am glad that it all worked out.

Warren said...

Sorry you had a cold during your run. You know, Granny Clampett had probably the best cold remedy that I've ever heard of:

Take a good swig of tonic (white corn liquor) three times a day, and in a week or two, you'll feel good as new.

todd said...

great story, matt--and how devoted you are!
i really woulda skipped the whole thing and spent the day watching cartoons (one of the greatest cold cures i know!)
glad your feeling better.
talk to you later!

Brian said...

Good on you for hanging in there Matt.