This week I took my second sick day of the year, and the third of my lifetime. Yes, I consider myself to be indestructible, and when I do get sick I go to work anyway.
Last Saturday I woke up with burning lungs, like the feeling you get after you’ve inhaled caustic cleaner (been there, done that). “No!” I said, “I can’t be sick. I have a 5K.” Cue browsing articles on ‘should you run while sick,’ of which there was no unanimous conclusion. So, I said ‘to heck with it,’ went to the drugstore and bought the highest-powered lozenges I could find. Back in the car, I popped one in my mouth.
My tongue went numb.
“What the heck is in these things?” I flipped over the box. Hmm, Benzocaine. Isn’t that what they use to freeze your mouth at the dentist?
Well, you don’t need to feel your tongue to run. So off I went to the race.
I almost burned out in the last mile. My lungs hurt so bad, and I had to force my oxygen-deprived muscles to keep firing. My time was lackluster, but I made it.
Monday, I went running again. Tuesday I was still sick, and on Wednesday I was dragging myself around work like a zombie. I decided to call it a day and go to the walk-in clinic. Chest X-rays and EKG’s and blood work couldn’t tell the doctor what was wrong with me. “You have a virus,” he said.
I could have told myself that. At least I wasn’t dying. I’d already been imagining the end of my running ‘career’ because I had scarring of the lungs, or a hole in my heart, or something (just making up stuff, here).
So this week has been one of extra sleep, extra writing, and extra Harry Potter watching. After much self-lecturing, I’ve decided I’m sick. No speed-work midweek. No long run on the weekend. I’m getting antsy. Based on the way my chest feels right now, I might collapse midway. But it’s autumn in Manitoba, and that means six months of winter are almost here, and if I don’t enjoy the snow-free roads now, I won’t get to!
Argh.
Someone tie me down, or hide my sneakers.
Geralyn Wichers 
I will hide your sneakers, what on earth, are you trying to get yourself more sick?
The first thing is to admit to yourself that you are sick 🙂
That would be my problem.
I don’t know, I find it pretty easy to convince myself that when I am sick, I need to run even more. It’s good for me, after all, right? Sort of like leaching blood in the middle ages… 🙂 Hope you feel better~
Thanks! Initially I figured keeping on my feet would be good, but it seems it’s better to stay home. I hope to lace up again on Monday.
Well, some say it is good to sweat when sick…get rid of bad germs that way 😉 But that does not count when you have “burning lungs”. Stay in bed, spoil us with your extra writing and get well quickly.
We’ll see what we can do 🙂 As I said, I may need to be tied down.
You might not be the highest-acheiving runner, but you definitely have Committment. Well done to you, Get Well Soon.
I want to unwrite that. Deciding to start running and still wanting to run when you’re as ill as that, is DEFINITELY high-acheiving, much more so than already-mountain-marathon-runners running moutain marathons.
Thanks! It may have just been foolishness… or just being too cheap to miss a race I’d paid good money to be at. 🙂 A good learning experience, but I’ll be glad to be back to it.