Sickness affects runs

You may be wondering how my 21 or 22 mile run went this last weekend.  Well, it didn't go so well . . . and by that I mean I didn't run.  Last week I started feeling sick, sore throat and a  headache.  Thursday night into Friday morning I didn''t sleep very well.  I was up at 3:45am on Friday morning (I normally wake up at 4:30) and couldn't get back to sleep because my throat hurt so bad, so I got up and took a bath.  Friday was my birthday, and I figured a bath would be a nice way to start my day.

I actually had a pretty good day on Friday.  I had lunch with a good friend and hung out a little. Then I went home, and I started feeling really crappy.  I think mostly it was just because I was sooooo tired.  My family wanted to know what I wanted to do for dinner, but nothing sounded really good.  We ended up trying a new place, which once we got there I thought was going to be a huge disappointment, but turned out really, really good.  I think we will go back when I'm feeling better.   Anyway, we came home, I got presents (a new electric blanket and a new Starbucks travel mug) and a cake and I went to bed.

Saturday I woke up not feeling good at all.  Maddox had a soccer game and my parents had come up specifically to see that. They actually stayed at my sister's house, but they came to Mt. Vernon for the game and then took us out to lunch for my birthday. It was really nice, but all I really wanted to do was go home and lay down.  After they left I did nothing, I did not feel good at all.  Chris asked me at one point if I was okay because I looked really white.

Lunch at Red Robin

Sunday I woke up and felt much better.  However, I knew we had to go grocery shopping so I decided to wait to run.  I figured I could run 12-15 miles since I was feeling better.  We went shopping, I got my nails done, and watched the Seahawks game.  During the game I realized I didn't go to the running store on Saturday to get Honey Stinger's, which I needed for my long run.  =/  So no 12-15 miles for me.  I did go run, I went out for a 5 mile run and actually thought I would cut it short because my throat was bothering me some.  I didn't, and kept going and started feeling much better.  I decided to run 6 miles, I took a different route and ended up on one of my favorite fall trails (lots of trees and pretty leaves), but I realized that the part of the trail I was going to do was only a mile long and I was at 4 miles, so I  thought I'll just do the whole trail (2 miles) but I'd have to turn around and go back to the middle of the trail to get home, so I'd end up with 7 miles.  And I felt good.  I pushed my time a bit and ended up with an average 9.05min/mile. The first mile was pretty slow, a lot of uphill, making it a 9.35 min/mile, the 5th mile was a 9.15min/mile, but the rest were all under 9.09 min/mile, with 4 of the 7 miles under a 9 min/mile.  (9.09 min/mile was once my race pace goal.) 

I know this says 9.08 min/mile, but that's because I stopped at
7 miles and the last 0.02 miles was still walking trying to stop
the damn app, which made the time slower.

I felt good after the run and didn't have a coughing fit, or feel like my throat or head was on fire.  So that was positive and I thought I was getting better.  Well, then I went to bed and realized that I now have a stuffy nose as well.  This is a new thing, and I think a new strain of cold, because last week I didn't have a stuffy nose at all.  Frustrating. 

I am quarantined at work.  I don't currently share an office space, so my coworkers have banned me to my area and closed my door and told me I'm not allowed out . . . not really, but I'm trying to stay in my office space as much as possible with the door closed so I don't get them sick.  (This is what happens when you have PTO [sick and vacation all in one] and I have to use it for an invalid Chris regularly and try to save some time for Christmas.)

So, I guess I'm aiming for 21 or 22 miles this Sunday.  That will give me 2 weeks to taper, although I think my entire training has been a taper.  I thought 2 years ago I trained poorly, I swore this year was going to be better, but every time I feel like I get my feet under me, something goes wrong.  My training was going great in June and July, I was right on track, doing race pace runs that were surprising me, then I had a hip issue and took 3+ weeks off.  I get back into it and have a knee pain.  Then last week I finally had a good long run and was feeling confident again, and I get sick. 

My original goal was to run under 4 hours, my second one was to have a PR (under 4:38:08) now I'm hoping just to finish. 

I have to run the Last Chance Marathon (or half) in Bellingham on December 31st in order to get the Washington half/full marathon medal.  I was thinking that I'd run the half, but now I'm wondering if I should try for the under 4 hour marathon for that one.  Starting in November if I "start" my marathon training over, I would have to start my long runs at 19 miles, and my race pace at 9 miles (which I actually don't know if I can do), but maybe if I follow marathon training perfectly from that point on, I could actually do it.  I don't know.  I guess I will see how my body feels after my marathon at the end of this month (October 29th).