Mental Health Day

I am supposed to run 5 miles today.  Instead, it's nearly 10 a.m. and I am still in my pajamas, having taken a 2 hour nap on the couch after my kids woke me up this morning.  I am taking a mental health day.   Also a physical health day, I suppose, since I'm still getting over my cold, but really it's a brain break.  

Yesterday during my run, I didn't really feel any worse than my run on Thursday, yet I let myself take three walk breaks.  In a 3 mile run.  Granted, I was coughing some and needed water and blah, blah, but the truth is, I just let myself quit.  

I'm worn out.  The past two months have just been crazy, and July and August are going to be equally so.  So while it may not really make any difference at all, I'm taking the day to go easy on myself and remind myself that it's ok to slow down from time to time.

Tomorrow I'm having a minor medical procedure that's starting to stress me out a tiny bit, so what  better day than today to just stop, relax, and breathe?

Do you take mental health days? How do you re-group after a hectic period in your life?

Sweating it Out

What's the expression - "Feed a cold, Starve a Fever?"  How about Sweat a Cold?  Can that be the new one?  Yesterday I was lamenting my current illness and saying woe is me, I can't run.  Sob, sob.   Today I decided to get off my duff and see what happened when I put running shoe to pavement.

In the 5 minutes before I left the house, I used 10 tissues, and I'm not even exaggerating.  During the 37 minutes that I was running, I stopped to blow my nose ONCE.  Apparently my body was too busy producing sweat to produce phlegm.  Awesome.

If I had known how much better I was going to feel after a run, I wouldn't have skipped my workout on Tuesday.  After all, I only had 2 miles on the schedule.  I can do almost anything for 25 minutes!  Why not run?  So, I know for next time.  Sometimes, pushing through is the best way to go.

(Granted, it's now 4:34 pm, my nose is stuffy, I'm coughing my head off, and I'm exhausted, but man did I feel good for a few hours earlier today!)

Onward and upward.

(Source)

That's just Sick!

This whole blog started during a time when I was on a running hiatus due to a cold that turned into COLDZILLA and kept me sidelined for nearly 7 weeks.

So imagine my insane frustration when 6 months later, I wake up feeling exactly like I did at the start of my previous illness.  I have been taking extra vitamin C, tons of fluids, cold medicine, drinking tea, sleeping whenever possible, and just taking it easy since Saturday.  It's Wednesday, and I am not feeling any better.  Granted, I'm not feeling any worse, either, so that's good, I guess.

On the other hand, I have not run since Sunday, and I'm cranky and whiny.  Boo hoo.

Half marathon training is supposed to start a week from Monday!  This is not good timing, people!

Do you run when you're sick? If so, what kind of sick do you run through, and what kind of sick makes you stay home?