Starting from Scratch Sucks . . .

I rolled out of bed this morning at 8:15am for a run which was quite impressive considering I tossed and turned half the night. My run however was less than impressive (I’m not going to embarrass myself at this point by disclosing my time and distance). Despite at the moment having relatively cool mornings and evenings, by the time I hit the road at 8:30am, it was already hot. That’s the issue with running in Malawi; unless you are running at 6am it’s always hot. Yesterday I had another less than impressive workout at the gym. I think it was the first time I’ve ever praised ESCOM (Malawi’s Electric Company) for cutting the power while I was on the treadmill. Starting from pretty much scratch is not fun; which should be motivation to not let my running fall by the wayside again. Overwhelmed by guilt for leaving my dog Tess for a week while I was in Harare, I took her on the run this morning. This is something I usually immediately regret after I do it. She is either dragging me ahead faster than I want to run, tripping me up with her erratic direction changes, or bringing me to a full stop while she sniffs around in the grass. She will get better eventually right?

I also seem to have injured my back over the last few days so it’s making everything a little more difficult. In an attempt to speed up the healing process, I used my massive bathtub for the first time. I also made use of one of my many essential oils (lavender) that my friend Jenna Smith sent me away with when I left Canada. According to the information she prepared for me it’s supposed to be calming, an anti-inflammatory and promote healing. I’m wondering if I should just stick to swimming till my back heals a little.

The upcoming week will likely be a bit nuts following up my trip to Harare and the long Easter weekend.