I’ve been in a funk for a week.
I was fooling myself thinking that I was OK being “just Dave.”
Shortly after writing that post, I slipped into a general feeling of sad/mad/confused/bored. No matter what I did, I couldn’t snap out of it. I couldn’t convince myself to just be happy.
I tried.
I started my marathon recovery program.
I started a new diet to lose the 15lbs that I was planned to lose last summer.
I ran mile intervals on the treadmill.
I set up the weight bench in the basement (and actually used it).
I started 10 different posts for this blog thinking that writing would help to clear my head. I trashed each one because I couldn’t get past the “I’m depressed” tone.
I was starting to get a little desperate. I didn’t know how I was going to snap out of it.
Finally, on my Sunday run with Keith and Rick, I was able to relax and enjoy myself again.
It wasn’t the run.
It wasn’t the fact that I’ve missed running with Keith and Rick.
It wasn’t the downpour that hammered us for 5 minutes when we were less than halfway through our 60-minute run.
Hell, it wasn’t even the fact that my legs felt great the entire time.
It was all because of a shirt. It’s as simple as that – the site of a shirt made me happy again.
Here’s how it happened:
We left Rick’s house in the dark around 5:45am.
The air was heavy. Rain was definitely threatening. No one wanted to push too hard, but we were hoping to get in a good 60 minutes of running.
The plan was to run from Oak Street down to Four Seas in Centerville and back – a generally flat, straight course.
The rain hit hard before we reached the corner of Old Stage Rd and Route 28. We were soaked. I had worn a t-shirt over my singlet and the combined weight of those felt like a good 10 pounds on my back.
We considered turning around, but that seemed pointless. We were already wet – why not push on and stick with the plan.
I was lost in my thoughts for a few minutes, just jogging along when I happened to look over @ Rick. He was doing his thing, running on the yellow line, talking about his future career as an ultra-marathoner, but I wasn’t listening to him. Instead, I found myself staring at his shirt. I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t noticed it earlier.
Before I could filter it, I heard myself say, “Uh, Rick – does Tina know that you’re wearing her shirt? Is that orange? Red? Choral? Cantaloupe? What do you call that color?”
From the other side of Rick, Keith said, “I think it’s salmon.”
That was it – that was the color. Rick was wearing a salmon-colored running shirt.
Now, it’s possible that the shirt may have been red at one time and simply faded from too many washings, but in my head that wasn’t nearly as funny as the site of Rick digging through Tina’s closet looking for a clean shirt. I pictured him pushing aside the floral prints (too bold), the winter white turtleneck (too dressy) and the cotton blouses (ouch – chafing) before settling on this lovely salmon number (“I think this will really bring out the gray in my chest hair!”).
And that was it – something as stupid as a faded red shirt got me out of my mini-depression.
I smiled the whole way home.
Even now – 36 hours later, I’m still chuckling to myself about it.
6 comments
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November 14, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Rahim Rahman
You’re welcome Dave!
Could it be Post Marathon Depression?
Post Marathon Depression – By Doug Kurtis
…read the last paragraph in this article
November 14, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Dave Fravel
Rahim –
2 excellent links – thank you so much for sharing.
As far as the last paragraph in the 2nd article – no doubt about it – I definitely plan to run the next one faster.
November 14, 2006 at 5:57 pm
burrows
post marathon depression sucks! after my first race, I got it bad!!! took me a while to get out of that funk and now I’ve always got something else to look forward to… the fact that you’re planning other races is a total help on the long-term getting over it…! run on
November 14, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Rahim Rahman
HAHA! That’s probably the reason why I ran Denver 2 weeks after Portland. I’m hoping to be able to buy a cheap weekend webfare ticket to Philadelphia through Frontier to run Philly Marathon this weekend. I’m trying to bypass the Post Marathon Depression as long as I can!
And check out Dean Karnazes. After finishing 50 marathons, he’s still running!
November 15, 2006 at 9:58 pm
mp3ief
Thanks for the encouraging words. You are right, I’m both insane and determined. The decision to run the second was made prior to running the first. I still have the option of running the half at Kiawah, but hopefully I’ll be back on track and ready to hit the full.
I put in two point three miles last night and got four tonight. Most of the soreness is gone although I still feel a bit lethargic. Back to the lunch runs tomorrow with the crew at work.
December 26, 2006 at 9:49 pm
john Johnson
I have learned a lot today about the subject