Four Days Later

I hinted at it in an earlier post, but my last three months have been quite the blur. Actually, it's something that has been about two years in the making, and all the nitty-gritty details can be found here at this little posting I made on a running forum I frequent.

I'm now into my fourth day of recovery. Physically, I'm progressing just fine; the various aches and pains that were prominent the first couple of days are slowly fading away. My energy levels are still all over the place though. I've had a fair share of lightheadedness after getting up too fast from a seated position. Also, other things you wouldn't normally think of have their effect; today, a mere ten minutes out in high-eighties temperatures was a lot more draining than I would've thought.

I didn't think too much about the mental aspect though, but that little detail finally made itself known just a couple hours ago. I had recently bought a book detailing the experiences of people who've done ironman-distance triathlons. I've been battling nagging injuries for over half-a-year even before the harvest, and I figured it would be perfect inspiration for me to restart my training once I get back up to speed in a couple weeks. Doing an ironman distance triathlon is a bit out there in terms of my current levels of ability, but deep down that would be personally incredible to experience, even if only just once.

I popped open the book and read the first couple of stories. All the right stuff was there to be grasped for inspiration - pathos, whimsy, overcoming difficult circumstances, and so on. But after only a few minutes I put the book down, completely detached. It was odd to experience, especially knowing stories such as these would normally get my juices flowing.

I pondered it for a bit, then realized that my personal emotional tank had reached the proverbial "E" on the gauge. And considering the month I had prior to the procedure as well as the ramifications of the procedure itself, that's really not too surprising I guess.

However, I'm betting the same salve for my physical healing is applicable to the mental, and that salve is a simple four letter word.

Time.

And now that I think about it, it's time to get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day, as they say...