Waiting it Out

 

That is totally how I felt this weekend running.  I am lucky my husband ran with me, because laying down like that on the sidewalk of my neighborhood is ill advised.  OMG I felt like I was running for the first time.  A week ago Friday I woke up feeling really bad sore throat, cough, stuffy, fever and a ridiculous schedule that had zero room for any of that and would continue through my costumed appearance as the Running Toilet at Water Drop Dash that Saturday.  Down enough medicine and you can do anything; so off I went, not fully lucid, but fulfilling my obligations.  Fast forward more than a week down the line.  I am a slug.  After Water Drop Dash on Saturday I got in my PJ's laid on the couch and got up Monday to start a whirlwind week at work. 

 

Finally this weekend my sinus infection was clearing up but the bronchitis has been relentless, and not at all annoying, ask my sleep deprived husband and edgy co-workers. Also thank to all the coughing it feels like I cracked a rib, I am sure I didn't.  Hope all of that hacking at least equates to a decent ab workout.  

 

Saturday and Sunday I tried to run and I just could not catch my breath, oh yeah or stop coughing.  Also discovered in our neighborhood we we do not have enough crosswalks where we have to stop so I can get a break doubled over coughing while we  wait on a walk sign.  Funny how that seems like such a positive when you can actually breathe, it really is all about perspective.  Needless to say since my less than successful runs on Saturday and Sunday.  Oh yeah needed a three hour nap after Sunday's 3 mile endurance event.  I have not been back at it.  What is that rule about above the neck and below the neck.  This thing is a pain in the neck.  I am a running blogger who can't run. Waiting it out, really impatiently.  I am sure I should be cross training but lately just getting through work has felt like a marathon event and sadly I usually need a nap before I cook dinner, how embarrassing.

 

So signing off to tape up my ribs, I feel just like a tough football player.  Today grateful my husband hasn't left me.  I would be running out of patience, not to mention I am not brining much to the table.  Hope you are having a better couple of weeks.  How long do you wait and how do you get back without overdoing it? 

Work and Illness...Running Dressed as a Toilet

Yes sometimes work and running collide and sometimes that means you end up running 4 miles dressed as a running toilet, or that might just happen to me.  Last Saturday Metro Atlanta Utilities were out celebrating the beginning of USEPA WaterSense Program's Fix a Leak Week.  We hosted 660 runners at the Water Drop Dash 5K and Kid's 1 mile Fun Run.  The weather was beautiful and I was dressed as a running toilet, and yes I ran both races like that.  I have to first mention that in my professional life I would not be described as whimsical.  In fact when I walked out after running Volunteer Registration and got in my costume you could feel the eye of every colleague I work with around the region.  You could not hear a peep.  I don't know what they thought  I would do.  I mean I could not even lift my arms.

One brave soul broke the ice.

My Friend Laura from The Chattahoochee River Keeper. 

After that first request for pics we were off to the races!  My friend from Gainesville Utilities was dressed as the Conservation Crusader and we headed out to lead pre-race warm ups that we had written out to clever water facts and tips.  Then it was time to run.  I have to say I was apprehensive about whether I could run both races in the costume.  Thanks to Hubby's artistic work securing the costume, which was a little too big for me, previous owner was a little bigger, it was pretty stable.  It was also hot.  The hardest part is the arm holes are cut so low I had no arm swing and I am not used to being so wide so I kept hitting folks I passed, costume is mostly foam so no injuries.  I will say everyone was so excited about the running toilet and had a great time.  It is sometimes fun to throw caution and your career to the wind, and do something outside the box.  After making it through the 5K in 30 minute, probably my slowest 5K in 2 years, but as a fellow runner pointed out my PR as a Running Toilet, it was Kids Fun Run time.  This was great I was out front of the kids and I took off really fast so they could Chase Down Leaks.  Of course after the initial couple hundred yards I gradually slowed down so everyone could catch me.  We all win at Water Drop Dash, especially water.

We end the event with a family water festival and awards. It was a huge success.  It was our second year.  We doubled our participants.  It was great fun.  I will say organizing and managing a race is so much more stress than just showing up to run, so thank volunteers and race coordinators.  Oh yeah I also might have forgotten to mention I also did all of this with Bronchitis and a Sinus infection that then took me out of running commission for the rest of the week, which was crazy busy at work and found me begging for Friday. A testament to good drugs and mind over matter!

This weekend marked the first painful runs I have done since Water Drop Dash.  I am so out of shape! I miss being able to breathe.  More on that later.  Hope everyone is having a great day! Hopefully thing are slowing down or returning to normal.  I hope to get back to regular blogging.

Lately I am grateful for Respiratory Rescue Tea and good cough medicine!