Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Cure for What Ails You

It's been a rather boozy weekend.  For a lightweight like me, that's never really a good thing, even though it's fun at the time.  I can't drink like I used to, nor do I really want to because it usually takes me a few days to feel "normal" again.  Boozy weekends usually entail later nights as well, which means I'm going to bed later but still getting up at the same time due to my annoying internal alarm clock.  Less sleep=serious cranky pants, just ask my husband.
Today was no exception.  We rolled in at about 2:00 am last night, which is way past my bedtime.  As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.  Amazingly I actually managed to sleep in past 7:00 am.   I woke up around 9:30 am to the sound of rain hitting the bedroom window.  Booooo.    Me and my foggy head wandered downstairs and flopped on the couch.  I had to do a 17km run.  My plan was to run out to where we parked the car last night, pick it up and drive home.    It was overcast and misting out - not a full on rain but enough that after 17km I'd probably be fairly wet.  I really didn't feel like going out but I made my breakfast and went upstairs to get ready.   I came downstairs and got myself sorted when I heard some rumbling outside.  Thunder?  Gary opened the window to double check.   It rumbled again.  Yup, that's thunder.  Perfect.  Just then the skies opened up and it started to pour.   I announced to G that he'd have to drive me up to get the car as there was no way I was running in this crap.  I hadn't missed a long run yet this year so if I missed one, then so be it.  15 minutes later we hit the road.  I got the car and made a few stops on the way home.  As I was driving home, I noticed it had stopped raining. 


Hmmmm.....maybe the streak wouldn't have to end.

I got home and puttered about for a bit, still procrastinating.  A large part of me really just wanted to sit on the couch and be lazy.  There's something about a night out on the town that just makes me feel so lethargic the next day, even if I didn't overindulge that much.  But, I do know that sometimes the best way to kick a hangover on it's ass (other than to start drinking again) is to sweat it out.  Now this doesn't work for every type of hangover.  You need to be able to stand up and put one foot in front of the other without falling over and you really should be able to keep liquids down.  If you can't do either of those, sweating is not going to help you.  In fact, you probably don't have any liquid left in your body to sweat out.  At that point you should probably just crawl back under the covers and pray for sleep to take you quickly.

Luckily I only had 3 pints of beer and a sip of a nasty shooter, which for me, is still a fair bit of booze.   It was just enough to make me feel groggy when I got up.  By the time I had actually stopped messing about, the rain had stopped.  I had no excuse now.  I got dressed and headed out the door.  It was damp out but the temperature was actually quite nice.  My legs felt a bit tired but I hadn't bothered with usual warm up.  I also rode by bike and ran the day before so I wasn't surprised.  As the km's clicked over, my legs started to feel better.  By the time I hit the turn around, I felt great.  I had started to work up a good sweat and the fog had cleared.    The skies may have been gloomy but I was in a great mood.  As I made my way home, I caught myself smiling.  It was official.  I hadn't missed a long run yet this year, that and I felt a million times better than I did when I left. Funny how a little sweat equity can be the cure for what ails you.



2 comments:

riley said...

Some of my best runs have been slightly hungover! But not this weekend, you got the best of it, I missed my long run and am on day 2 of my hangover!! :p

Phaedra Kennedy said...

Ha ha ha..me too! I distinctly remember a long run I had to do while training for Ironman #1. I was going on about 5 hours sleep and God only knows how many cocktails from the night before but I had one of the BEST runs I'd had in months that day.
Hopefully you manage to chase the cobwebs out today!