Much to my disappointment, Christmas here in Northeast Ohio was trying its best to be white, but it came a few days early and then a few days late. I managed to get in one run outside in between the snow storms, but now it seems like the flood gates have been opened - just as the snow from the previous storm starts to melt enough, another storm comes through. I live in a very small neighborhood of a few cul-de-sac's, so our roads don't get much attention from the road cleaning crews. And the bike trail I usually run on doesn't get cleaned, salted, or plowed at all. Without proper trail shoes, I'm forcing myself to stay inside and use the treadmill instead. I can see it now - my clumsy self, slipping on ice, falling and breaking an arm or cracking my head open on the pavement, with not a soul in sight to come rescue me or help me out. No thanks.
Meanwhile, as I lament the abundance of snow and consider warmer places to live, I keep on running on that faithful friend, my treadmill. Thursday was one of those days that I really just didn't want to run. I was tired, had a headache, was sore from shoveling 10 inches of snow off my driveway the day before, and felt like I was developing some head/sinus congestion. Blah. But I'd finally started to get back to my normal eating habits (aka healthy eating :o)) after the holidays, and my body was thankfully feeling more like itself. I knew a run would make me feel even better - plus I couldn't give up on my Holiday Running Streak so close to the end. So I got changed into my running clothes and shoes, and stepped onto the treadmill, content with just doing 3 or 4 miles at a nice easy pace, since I didn't feel all that great. I wasn't going to worry about pace or time - just run for the enjoyment of it and for a nice workout without pushing myself too hard. I was surprised at how good that truly felt, and as I approached mile 3, I felt fantastic. My headache had subsided, my nose wasn't feeling very stuffy anymore, and I wasn't as tired as I'd been when I got on the treadmill (my arms and back, however, were still sore as ever from my snow shoveling!). So I kept going towards mile 4, and my mind couldn't help but wander to greater things. What if I could keep this nice easy pace up through mile 4 and still feel good? Should I keep going? I'd never tried to run more than 4 miles before, but I'd love to see if I could run 5. My runs earlier this week hadn't been the longest, as I'd tried to squeeze them in among Christmas events and celebrations, so my weekly mileage was already low for already being Thursday. What the heck, I thought - what did I have to lose? And so I kept going! And guess what? I made it 5 miles!!!!!!!!! It took me 48:17, but that was okay with me. It was still under 10 minutes per mile, and further than I'd ever run before. How exciting! :o)
So when Friday rolled around, I was feeling about the same as Thursday, except with a bit more sinus congestion, and thought I could feel better again with a run. It worked yesterday, so it should work again today, right? Wrong. I can't emphasize just how wrong I was. I had decided just to do 2 miles to give my legs a bit of a rest after the 5 miles from the day before, and I started out at a pretty good pace. I felt okay for about the first half mile, and then things started to go downhill fast. This wasn't an unusual pace for me for 2 miles, but I felt like I was dying. Like I was really putting a lot of effort into it and could barely keep up. My head congestion got worse (not better), and my whole body was feeling exhausted. The 2 miles couldn't be over soon enough. When it was, I just sat down on the floor and leaned back against the treadmill, completely skipping any type of stretching simply because it would take more effort than I had left in me right then. I felt pretty pathetic, to be honest. But the longer I sat there, the worse I felt. I had to accept the fact that this head congestion was the start of a wonderful cold (hopefully not the flu!), and that I might have to take it easy for a few days. I finally headed upstairs, changed right into my pajamas (it was already past 10:30pm anyway, so I didn't feel so lame), took some night-time cold medicine, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I didn't have anywhere to be this morning, so I didn't set an alarm, and vowed to sleep as long as I could to give my body some rest and maybe tone down the severity of the on-coming cold. I still feel kinda crappy today, but not yet a full-blown cold or flu. I'm gonna have to do some research on the best way for runners to deal with colds and congestion. Is it best to just tone down the intensity of my runs, or to skip a couple days altogether until I clear up? I can't believe this is the first time I've encountered this!
Anyhow, I need to head to the grocery store (and maybe pick up some orange juice while I'm there to help combat this cold) to stock up on some ingredients for healthy meals now that all the Christmas and holiday meals and leftovers are gone. I honestly can't wait to get back to cooking for me and my husband, because I was shocked by how terrible I felt after a few days of eating what other people prepared (I mean no disrespect to any of them, by the way - the food was all fantastic, but just not in my range of normal meals anymore). I didn't binge or eat only unhealthy foods. In fact, I still ate a normal breakfast every day, and did a pretty good job of taking smaller portions of the meals I didn't prepare, and didn't over-do it too much on the desserts. But I seriously couldn't believe how crappy I felt. I was sluggish, my stomach felt gross, and I started to have very little appetite. When I did get hungry, I noticed that I felt like I was craving sweets, but the minute I started to eat them, I felt all gross again. And if I then tried to force down an apple or something healthier, I felt so full it was disgusting. I eventually managed to stay away from the sweets so much and leave the leftovers to my husband (even if that meant making my own salad for dinner and letting some of the leftovers go to waste), and I started to feel so much better. And now that things are settling back into a more normal routine, I can start cooking again. :o) Can't wait! Now if I could just get this head congestion to go away...
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