It took about a week, but it feels like I’m finally getting over this horrible cold I had. It was so bad, that I had to stay home from work last Thursday. Fortunately, Sherry brought home some medicine that actually made me feel better Thursday night, and I was able to go to work on Friday and actually enjoy a weekend of normalcy.

Next up for me is resuming the strict Paleo diet and hitting the roads by running again. It’s been two weeks since I last ran, and I really, really am looking forward to getting back out there. I was just getting to sub-8 minute miles, and I know that I gave back some of that progress through not being able to run for two weeks. No worries; I’ll get there again. It’ll just take another 2-3 weeks. It’s also good for my emotional well-being, and also helps me burn some calories to create a bigger deficit on the days I run.

I run every other day, typically. I’d like to work up to running daily, but at 51, my joints and muscles seem to recover better with that day of rest, So, I’ll stick with the four times a week plan unless I somehow get much stronger/faster/better. I do have a few Army schools coming up, and two of them will require daily exercise. Before I go to those, I’ll definitely have to work myself up to doing dailies. I’ll hate it, but I’ll get it done and I’ll make sure I get it done better than as many other soldiers as possible. Even at my age, I’m fiercely competitive, and especially because of my age, I have to prove to everyone above and below me that I am an asset and worth being in my place.

Getting over this cold means more than just being able to smell, taste food, or take a breath without a stuffed nose. It means being able to resume my normal life, to get back to running, and to get back to improving my run time, run distance, and heart health.