100 Words Per Mile: Where Do We Go From Here?

First COVID experience. First half marathon. Next Steps.

December 20, 2020
13.1 miles
1:41:48

There’s a lot to catch up on. You’ll notice I haven’t run in fifteen days. That’s because the day after my last run, my wife tested positive for the coronavirus. Somehow, I tested negative, but because I was home with her, I scheduled another test the following Tuesday. That one came back positive.

My little brother called me today. He wants to get his GED. He needs help getting his ducks in a row so his public defender can show the judge he is trying to turn his life around. I explained to him that my wife and I were quarantining because we had the coronavirus, but to make a plan to meet on the first Wednesday I was no longer contagious. He said, “bet,” and “thank you.”

My wife and I had two different experiences with COVID-19. She was symptomatic before she tested positive and experienced body aches as well as a nagging cough. I initially tested negative and had to sleep on the couch for a couple of nights until I tested positive two days later. My symptoms arrived later that night, which included a general blanket of exhaustion and one night of an extremely debilitating migraine. I’ve lost my sense of smell for the time being and while I can usually run for a long time, walking to the mailbox might level me.

There was one evening, however, in which I was sure I was going to die. While I was cooking, I recognized a migraine was coming on. This isn’t unheard of for me, though may be a little abnormal. The last migraine I’d had before this occurred two years prior, and then it was a slow process. This migraine turned out to be a different beast.