10.28

10.28 by myself. Two laps around the park, cutting through the top at 102nd to slice off the Harlem Hill tip. It was a bump back the mileage before a big increase kind of week.

I spent Friday and the first half of Saturday wishing for a head transplant and retaining my will to live by taking too much knock-me-on-my-ass migraine magic pills. After a slow afternoon strolling the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and some rest at home, I suited up, determined to get the Saturday morning long group run in by myself in the evening. It was cool and breezy, and would have been perfect had my not-quite-exactly-magic pills not sent me from worn out hungover to seriously nauseous. As my stomach flipped, I slipped off my shoes, and crawled back under the covers.

Sunday, I woke up, had three Nutrigrain bars, and headed out for a lovely couple hours. I felt all warmed up and hit a comfortable pace at the hour mark, and just kind of forced myself to focus on the fact that I was doing well in the moment, and not on the time and distance I had left. Mentally, the second loop was far easier than the first; it was nice to say to myself "I will not have to cover this ground again."

I'm sensitive to processed foods, with some of the preservatives and additives causing full blown attacks of the migraine, but I'm also increasingly concerned about all of the fake and chemicalized food that really takes effort to work around day in and day out. My head, stomach and energy level are all much improved by staying away from crap (I'm not talking about good quality chocolate here....). And the healthier I feel overall and the more I can exercise, the better my immune system does staying in whack.

My favorite part of the botanical gardens was the herb (and assorted other edible goodness) garden. I used to have a garden and thought I was pretty well versed in my veggies, but I was astounded by how many foods came from plants I would not have been able to recognize coming out of the ground. (See an artichoke to the right!)

Having a fertile vegetable garden has jumped up my life list. It'll take the place of the marathon.