If you follow me on DailyMile.com you probably noticed that I didn’t run for the past 25 days. Not because of an injury but because I had a pretty bad cold that didn’t go away. I got the cold in Korea and because I kept on working and traveling it got worse and worse. Last week in Holland I seriously thought about staying in bed one day, but I finally took some more Tylenol and dragged myself out of bed.
Back in China things didn’t really improve either but today I am suddenly feeling much better. It probably has to do with the tropical weather (I am in Jakarta right now), that is always a good medicine for a cold. That in combination with one good night of sleep (almost 9 hours last night, I was exhausted) means I feel like reborn today.
For the past weeks I totally didn’t feel like running, but today I looked forward to putting on my FiveFingers again. My hotel has a 420 meter jogging track all around it, it’s pretty cool how they made it. It’s on the 5th floor of the hotel and runs through its tropical rooftop gardens, along the swimming pools and rooftop bars and restaurants and then on a small path all around the back, side and front of the hotel.
I did 10 laps for a total of about 4200 meters and it was quite difficult. I am totally out of shape, and the not-completely-clean air plus tropical heat didn’t help much either. But I am glad I am running again. In less than one month I plan to participate in the Shanghai half marathon, I am not sure if I will be back in shape by then, but I’ll try.
My cold also taught me something else, and that is that I need to start working a bit less. Continuous 60-80 hour weeks plus lots of traveling are no problem when you’re in your twenties, but I now realize that at 38 years your body doesn’t recover as quickly anymore. No complaints, I love the work I’m doing and love to go to the limit every day, but I should watch out not to go over it. Feeling sick for more than a week is not healthy I guess. And my family deserves also more time, I miss my kids very often (and worse, they miss me).
So even though it’s not time for New Year’s resolutions yet I decided that I am not doing any more investments this year and will say no to all speaking gigs and other ‘opportunities’ until the end of the year (well, I still have one talk that I need to give in the FX Mall in Jakarta tonight, but that’s the last one). Let’s see if I can hold this promise to myself…
Dag Marc, Mag ik je iets vragen over je voorouder Simon Adrianus van der Chijs? Geb. Leiden 29-06-1843, doctor in de geneeskunde-en verloskunde?
Ik ben nl. op zoek naar hem ivm een boek wat geschreven wordt over Badhuis Bethesda in Laag Soeren en daar heeft hij gewerkt.
Groet van Nynke Groeneveld-Buis
Geen probleem, ik zal je even een email sturen.
And here I was thinking that I would have never read this here…but you’re in such great shape, M. And the hard work and many hours tacked on is all for a good cause. Legacy.
Maybe diet switch a bit for more sustained energy bursts?
Don’t fault yourself for your pacing though…look at the air quality of many of the places you visit…and SHA. It’s all connected.
Can we get some more photos of the track?
Agree with you that all the hard work is for a good cause (although I never really thought about it in terms of legacy), but what’s the use if you can’t enjoy it later? I won’t stop working hard for sure, just try to make sure I don’t overdo it like I sometimes did over the last couple of months.
Too late for more photos of the jogging track, just arrived in Shanghai…