So my girls team finished second at the California State Cross-Country Championships last Saturday. The requisite series of events that always follow closure ensued: the hoisting of the runner-up trophy, the taking of team pictures with said trophy, the calm satisfaction of seeing a group of athletes know success, the first night of sleep in six months without a workout planning itself in my head...

...followed by the collapse.

My wife calls it the New Orleans syndrome, because it first occurred on a long-ago drive around the country. This is the dark side of Keep Pushing... Always. On that trip I was so intent on seeing everything and going everywhere, burning the candle at both ends, that when we got to New Orleans my body just shut down. My memories of Bourbon Street were limited to the inside of the Cardinal Richelieu Hotel.

So it was Sunday. You push and you push and you push, and then the body says it's done. I shut down for the day with flu-like symptoms. The mere thought of anything organizational or a to-do list made me nauseous. 

I felt a little better Monday. Tuesday I ran. And once I've gone for a run, then the New Orleans Syndrome is done. Today I woke up, put on a sweatshirt with a track and field logo (I refuse to  wear cross-country during track, and vice versa), and began plotting how I am going to train my legions when we get back to it in three weeks. There is always something to be done better, and some way to go faster. 

It's on. 

Looking forward to my next New Orleans in June. 

Keep Pushing... Always