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RWS, or Listen to Your Body

RWS, or Listen to Your Body

Running while sick, that is.

This is one of those things that it really depends on a couple things: your body, for starters; how (or where) you’re sick, secondly; and whom you ask.

Of course, no one knows your body better than you.  That goes without saying.  What works for some people, or what does (or doesn’t) bother them, is sheer hell for others.  Take the common cold, for instance.  It affects people very differently.  We all probably know people who are sick far more frequently than others and just as well, the people at the opposite end of the spectrum, who seem that they are somehow living in their own separate untouchable/super-healthy world because they manage to evade sickness and the common cold every single year.

Luckily–knock on wood this holds true–I’m in the latter camp.

I just don’t get sick very often.

I think my lack of sickness comes in large part because of my lifestyle, but I also think my diet (strict vegetarianism, borderline veganism) has a lot to do with it, too.  It’s all anecdotal, but I think there’s something to it.  I think I’m just one of the freaks that can avoid sickness for some reason or, maybe more scientifically, cold and flu symptoms don’t seem to affect me as they do others.  I don’t really know.  I’m just lucky, I’m guess.  And incredibly, incredibly grateful.

So anyway, last week, on basically the morning that I ran Cary, I fell ill.  The day before, my throat was a little sore all day, but I chalked it up to allergies (which I wasn’t diagnosed with until I was an undergrad, and even then I was dubious at my doctor’s diagnosis.  Still am, to a degree.  I guess it is a little hard to live in the Midwest, though, without having some semblance of allergies.  Digression.).  Saturday night into Sunday morning, the day of the race, I woke up several times because I thought my throat was burning.  Fast-forward to later in the day, after awakening at 5am, driving over an hour to Cary, and running a half marathon on hills and in humidity, and after spending several hours with a friend and her baby, I drop another two and a half hours at a clinic in Rockford to be told that I had viral sinusitis.

What?

Not a sinus infection (which was my Erin diagnosis), but worse than a cold or just another annoyance from seasonal allergies.  Bad enough for me take some OTCs, some prescription-strength codeine, and to call in sick (to A, ha!) for a day, and to (gasp!) not run for about four days.  It’s actually a bit comical to write about now, because it doesn’t sound that bad, but good Lord, last week was miserable.  As much as I can recall, I haven’t been that sick since well before I was pregnant, so sometime in 2010, if not 2009.

When you’re sick only once every few years, it kinda blows when you finally realize you’re not as invincible as you thought.

I wanted to keep running, once I had my couple days of rest following Tuesday, because last week was supposed to be a build week that would end on a 20 on Saturday and the Shuffle on Sunday.  I didn’t want to lose four days of workouts to this annoying sickness that found me in bed all day once last week and taking medicine every four hours all the other days to help offer some relief.  My mind was saying go for it, but my body was saying no-the-fuck-way.

So this is where the debate comes in regarding when and how much people should exercise, in general, or run, specifically, while ill.

A quick Google search will indicate that some use the above/below the neck rule–that if you have a cold and it’s “above” your neck, that it’s ok to run or exercise, but to not overdo it, but if it’s “below,” then stay in bed and take a rest day (or two or three).

Others offer more strict prescriptive approaches, maintaining that there’s actually a hard-and-fast number–and for most runners, it’s 60 miles per week–that sets runners over the edge into compromising their immune systems enough that’ll set themselves over into illness territory.

And of course, diagnosing this stuff based on what the interwebs say is always something of a joke, because a lot of the pages end with the obligatory “stop what you’re doing and call your doctor if you’re experiencing any chest pain or shortness of breath” warning that they probably have to post for everyone out there who is more inclined to read something online and take it to heart than they are to listen to their own bodies.

So what ultimately happened last week?

I listened to my body (and my family).

I was lazy.

I didn’t do much of anything at all last week, until Friday, when I finally ran a very easy five miles before the weekend’s schedule. All told, at least right now, I’m glad I did what I did because it’s better to be sidelined with something annoying like this for four days than something far worse for four weeks.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of swallowing my pride (and my phelgm… eww).

March Madness 2012

March Madness 2012

Part of the beauty (or maybe “risk” is the better word) for running the March Madness half marathon in Cary, Illinois, in mid-March is that you never know the type of weather you’re going to get.  Last year, runners were treated to a nice windy and rainy thunderstorm for their 13.1 jaunt through rural IL, while in the years I had done it (2009 and 2010), both times the day was crisp and bright but cool, around 30s or 40s.  This year’s race blew everything out of the water, though, as it was a balmy 60 degrees at the 8:35 start time without a cloud in the sky, no wind to speak of, and nearly 80+% humidity.

Milling about in the high school gym before the race starts

I’m pretty sure none of us thought when we were registering for this race on 12/31 that we’d be wearing shorts in mid-March.  God bless the midwest (and global warming).

So how was the race?  Well, in a word, challenging.  This race is tough any day of the week because it’s set-up pretty similarly to the Boston course: lots of downhills in the first half, followed by lots of ascents, and in the mix, some little rollers and not much flatlands.  Silly me must have thought I was a novice runner on Sunday, so I went out much too quickly–sub 7s for my first three–and of course, I only got more tired as the race continued, as the sun got hotter, and as my legs got more fatigued from all the ascending and descending.  Check out the course map below for a visual.

March Madness Map 2010

All told, I posted a 1:41, which was a good 9 minutes slower than my last half at F^3, but I guess it’s also important to remember that F^3 was in flat Chicago and on a day that was barely 20 degrees.  I’m not a fan of warm weather or humidity running, so I gave it my best shot on Sunday and tried to run with it (terrible pun, but I couldn’t resist).

One nice thing about running in Cary is that I get to see many of my runner buddies, especially those from the suburbs, whom I usually see infrequently.  Below is me with my buddy David C.

Salty, stinky, and sweaty with David after the half

After racing and chatting with my buddies, I also got the pleasure of going to see another friend, Laura, and her husband and new baby, since they live relatively close to the race.  Here’s a pic of Laura and me chilling with baby Theo on the ground.

Chillin

 

Despite the beautiful weather and the lovely time with my friends on Sunday, the day ended on a crappy note, as I ended up spending over two hours at a clinic where my in-laws live to be told that what I thought were allergies was actually “viral sinusitis.”  I’m thinking that I had this during the race, too, which could have made going full-tilt even more difficult (in addition to it being toasty and humid and hilly).  I hope I can shake this soon, though, as I’ve got a 20-miler staring me in the face on Saturday and the shuffle 8k on Sunday.

Also, interestingly enough, the level of soreness from this race has been unmatchable.  On Monday, my body felt like it had just run a marathon, not a half marathon, the day before.  My quads were completely trashed–feeling like they had gotten hit repeatedly with a bag of oranges–and I resorted to descending stairs backwards or sideways to make the contact more comfortable.  Between the muscular soreness, then, and this illness that I’m sporting, I’m a bit of a mess.

To better health in the next 72 hours…