Long Runs, we don't need no stinkin' Long Runs.

Well, actually I do. I just haven't been able to do any the last two weeks due to illness.

Since I last posted, I had an uneventful 13 mile run as scheduled on February 7. It wasn't as fast as I would like. I have got to stop saying that phrase so often, though I would doubt that I am popular enough with the college crowd to become a drinking game where everyone imbibes whenever I write "not as fast as I would like. " I do intend this to be a family blog, so let's just say the drink in this game would be gatorade.

On Sunday, Feb. 8, I spent a few hours getting videotaped and coached in swimming at the Mystic Y by Coach Al and a couple of his friends, which is where I suspect I caught my bug. By Monday afternoon I had to leave the office early for bed. I was awake for very little of Tuesday, and my wife says that in 20 years of marriage she has never seen me so out of it. What was really frustrating was that Tuesday was to be my last training day with Stacy, and I had to miss it. I did go in to the gym on Wednesday to say goodbye in person. After being so ill on Tuesday and only gradually recovering, I took Jack's advice and took it easy, doing a yoga class on Friday, and a four mile run on Saturday, instead of my scheduled 18 miler. By Sunday I was feeling a lot better and went to my normal weightlifting and yoga classes, and had a good speedworkout on the treadmill Monday morning, running one mile at 7:35 pace and then two miles at 7:45 pace. I even went to my triathlon swim class Monday night, though it seemed extra challenging. Tuesday morning I did my first weight workout without Stacy, and felt I did fine being my own coach.

Jack had warned me that a lot of people he knew had my bug, and that it had a nasty habit of coming back to a lot of them. I don't know if that was the case with me, I suspect I have had two independently nasty bugs since the symptoms have been different, but sure enough by Tuesday night I was starting to feel less than 100%. I still went to my biking class on Wednesday, but faded at the end and by Thursday morning was feeling sick again. My scheduled 10 mile on Thursday turned into a hideously slow 3 miler. We were going to be in Boston on Saturday so I could run with my DFMC teammates out in Waltham. I like the gym where we run from because it is a very nice gym where the Celtics also train, and we run by Paul Pierce's house, but after consulting with Jack I decided it was best not to try my scheduled 18 miler. I kept getting worse after making the decision, and gave Jane my bug as well, so it turned out there was no decision to have been made at all. I simply could not have run even 100 feet.

Today, Sunday, I am feeling somewhat better, I managed to do a 3 mile run on the treadmill at 10 minute mile pace that was at least less uncomfortable than my run on Thursday. So the plan is to get healthy and increase my training so that by next Saturday, I can run a good 20 miler in Boston on the course, again running out of the Mount Auburn club. I will have two challenges, not only running well for 20 miles after two weekends of no long runs, and not getting lost getting back to the club this time.

Boston is in 8 weeks from tomorrow. I am not giving up on my goal of running it in under 4 hours, but the last two weeks of illness have allowed a little doubt to settle in. Nothing that a good 20 miler won't fix, however.

I want to leave you with this article from the Boston Globe. As I say about Dana-Farber, it brings out the best in people and brings out the best people. And there is nothing like reading about children with cancer to make one feel a little ridiculous for complaining about a couple of weeks of mild illness.

And once again, if you care to donate, you can do so directly at http://www.runDFMC.org/nealb2009

See you after next week's long run, with pictures if I can manage to stay healthy.