Rural Running

With my second to last semester at Cortland done, I have returned to the place of my birth. I live outside of Delhi, NY. I live on a dirt road in the woods, my nearest neighbor is a quarter-mile away, town is a full 15 minute drive away. This makes for pretty good running, there isn't much traffic, there are some trails in the summer, nice dirt roads to run on. The only thing is, runners are a rare breed around here. The locals don't really know what to do when they see a scantily clad kid running down the road, or as is the case now, they are even more shocked when they see a kid in full spandex kit run past their house/shanty in single digit temperatures. The look on their face is similar to what I imagine people look like when they see Bigfoot or something. Bubba and Billy-Bob usually just give a bemused nod when I sail past their pickup truck as they sit on the side of the road scopin' deer.

Couch Coma

I'm a pretty active person, I get up at a decent time most days, I spin on my bike trainer in the morning, I go to all my classes, I run, I go to the gym. People have told me that I have unlimited energy. This is not true, and the people that live with me can attest to this.

About every other week, all that activity catches up with me. It goes something like this when it happens:

I get back to the apartment from a run, make food, and sit down on the couch to eat it. I put something mindless on the television, and when I finish devouring my food, I flop down on the couch, always with the intention of just resting for a minute before getting up to be productive. Eyes get heavy, find a pillow, just for a minute.

Wake up three hours later.

And I use the term wake up loosely, when I get out of a deep sleep, I'm like a newborn for half an hour or so. I barely know where or who I am, I can't use my words. Eventually I come out of my sleep stupor and function like a human.

Couch comas are rough, but I guess they're necessary. I know other runners suffer from the couch coma phenomenon, as I have witnessed it, usually brought on by the same thing: running followed by food.

For example, Mr. Kyle O'Brien after a long run and a feast: