Well I underestimated Lyme for sure. I have been floored by this. There is high pain levels, muscle tightness, achiness, blah blah. This all started after taking the medicine. The doc says this is within normal for the Lyme and the doxycycline treatment. But I'll tell y ou what, I just got back from a 3.25 mile jog and it was S.L.O.W. Pain in the hamstrings, pain in the kness and generally speaking a pain in the ass. I felt glimpses of the possibilities of being able to run long and strong again, but they were few and far between.  I am hoping that in January or March I can read this and say, remember when. It is hard to imagine it right now, I'll tell you that much. The M.D. said specifically that the residual pain could last for 2-3 weeks after the course of treatment is done. Well I have like 10 more days of treatment, so that is like another month of feeling like shit. Not inspiring with an Ironman looming in the not that distant future. But I'd still like to get a marathon in 2007. Maybe it'll be alright toward the end of the year since I'll just keep the momentum going into 2008. I had planned to break after the marathon for a few weeks and do what I usually do in the months of November and eaarly December, which is recover. I focus on swimming and prepare for the one hour "postal" swim we do in January. That's one hour continuous in the pool and you see how far you get. This is done all over the U.S. and the results are mailed into a central locale (hence Postal). I've improved a bit each year and get a bit over 2 miles in the pool. I'm much faster in open water since there is not a turn every 25 meters. And the wetsuit sure helps too. We'll see how this year turns out. One year I gashed my finger an hour before the hour I was to be in the pool and had to swim with a tightly wrapped finger that included a cut off finger of a rubber latex glove to keep the nasty clorine water out. Much fun and throbbing that year. It's always interesting anyway... But it's only September. Masters swimming for the fall starts next week. that'll be enlightening and painful until this month of Lyme-ing is done. enough of my bitching for now. F'n ticks!

Out,

MW