Ready to Run

Okay, so according to my doctor, I do, in fact, have laryngitis. All the nasty gunk from my sinuses is coating my vocal cords. When my throat gets dry, I start this beautiful hacking cough that doesn't go away until some of that gunk dislodges from my vocal cords. It might take two or three good coughs or four or five minutes of coughing. So yesterday, my boss decides the hacking is enough for him and has me banished to the house. This is where I mention that I gave up TV for Lent. I've done a lot of laundry and house cleaning as I have guests this weekend, but it's been very quiet around here. So I clean up and nap and watch my favorite movie yesterday. I feel like staying home helped me (and, to be honest, work is kind of slow right now...) so I called in sick today. I had a major coughing fit this morning and took some cough syrup with some codeine in it (GREAT stuff, knocks me on my butt!) and slept until 3! I haven't slept like that since college! Anyway, my husband took the last frozen dinner, so I indulged my sick self in a Quarter Pounder w/cheese value meal (to keep the antibiotic down, naturally) and I'm listening to my laundry. I am going out tonight (I won tickets on the radio to see Pete Sampras and Todd Martin play) but that's not what I am most looking forward to this weekend...

The doc cleared me to run. SWEET! I didn't have a fabulous showing in my first Gate River Run, so I am looking to do better (even if I am sick). Not to mention this cabin fever is killing me!

Putting The "R" In R.I.C.E

I have always considered myself a chronic person, always switched on, a habit, vexing at times. I do what I want to do, even when I probably shouldn't do it. Impulsive might not even cover it, it's more like stubborn or hard headed. My dad would give me advice in college and he'd usually end it with, "But you're going to do what you want to do and not listen to me." Dad was usually right. It didn't always come back to bite me, but there are many times I wish I had backed down when instead I just kept right on going.

The same is true for my running. And while tenacity is admirable in a runner, blind stubbornness is not. Especially when it comes to sickness and injury. I preach R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) to anyone I run with who even remotely says they have an ache. I just can't take my own advice. My ankle injury last fall is a prime example - It wasn't even an ankle injury to begin with. It was a calf injury from a 5k... then I ran my first half marathon on it the next day... and two days later, I couldn't even make it through a lap at the park. Instead of taking it easy, hitting the ice pack, and trying to wait it out, I kept pushing. After my pitiful run at the park, I was trying to stretch it (here's where looking up calf stretches on the internet would have come in handy), turned it wrong, added some weight to that leg, and *WHAM* a small amount of calf pain becomes a pop in my ankle and I'm chilling out for 5 weeks.

So here I am with a sinus infection to beat the band. I skipped running today because from the throat up I'm worthless. Seeing as this is a pretty integral body part in breathing, I'm probably better off this way. Not to mention there is the possibility of making this worse, getting sicker, and missing the Gate River Run on Saturday. I can't imagine that.

So R... rest. Boring but necessary.

Later Gater

Mike has come up with a list of all of the folks we (he) knows running the Gate River Run and how we'll finish. So, without further ado:

1. Gump*
2. Brian
3. Mike
4. Bill
5. Murnin
6. Darcey
7. Megan
8. Me
9. Soupal
10. Our boss
11. Billy (who is walking it... though you might beat our boss).

We'll see how this ends up. However, I was warned by my boss that I can't be sick so that I can run. I wonder if he'd like to make a friendly donut wager on this one...

*Some names edited to protect the guilty.

Running Recap - 7mi

I knew not to expect much because I had a cold, and not much is about what I got. We started in the parking lot at Seventh South, headed north. Through the Jax Beach bar area, down to the Beaches Town Center, up through Atlantic Beach for a nice Real Estate Run and back. Mike did a lot better than I did - my endurance today was just totally shot. I forgot how much Benadryl dries you out - I went through my first 24 oz of water before the halfway point! I didn't make it all the way back to the car - Mike was way ahead of me - but when he came back for me, I checked the ol'iPod and what do you know? It said 7.12 miles. Which is okay with me.

Also, massive props to Darcey, who did her first 10k today in 1:09:46!

Derailed

So yoga didn't happen... at the end of my work day, my throat started to get scratchy. I fixed myself a glass of tea with tons of honey to coat the throat, and no luck. However, since I hadn't eaten much, I had a nice giant Bonzai Pipeline wave of nausea hit. Lovely. So I headed home, stopping by Target on the way. Grabbed what I needed, and talked to the pharmacist. I told him with the scratchy throat, I knew what was coming next. He got me some Benadryl, telling me that the post nasal drip (I know you love all this TMI) was causing my throat to feel raw, and that if I don't try to get the head cold to go away now, while I am not run down and feel pretty decent, that it'll be a full blown chest cold here soon. It's important to note here one valuable lesson I learned last fall - *you can't run with a chest cold. Period.* I refuse to get too sick to run 7 miles at the beach this weekend, so I started on the Bendadryl. Woke up this morning, and I felt like I had this guy in my throat. While I am a big fan of turtles and all, I hate the feeling of a large one with spikes on his back every time I try to swallow. So, considering how I feel from the neck up and how contagious I probably am, I opted to stay home today.

I am so very bored.

No TV, no running, too cold to lay out, and Billy made me pretty much promise not to go to the gym and try to lift weights. So it's me, the MacBook, my apple cider sinus steam bath, and lots of Kleenex. And a Donna brownie.

I think I am going to do some more research on home remedies for head colds...

I'm not even checking the thermometer

I think according to the news, it was about 42 when I went for my run today. I didn't need to know that. According to my iPod, I did 4.98 miles, but Map My Run wants to say it was more like 5.6 (I don't know about all that).

I think I need to start doing some stretching. With my weight lifting and running... I have to admit, I am a bad stretcher. In fact, I don't stretch. But I promise tonight I am actually going to yoga to get the kinks out. If you need some runner's yoga and don't feel like going to a class, read this article: Runner's World - Yoga For Runners

And, best of all, I think I am coming down with a cold. I did a hot apple cider and water sinus flush (thanks, Susan!) and that helped a little, but here it is 3 hours later and I think I can use another one.