What I’ve Learned Running With a Cold

If you’re a regular reader of this site, or of Me and the Road, then you know that for the past few days I have been fighting a rather nasty cold. I usually pride myself on my ability to somehow avoid getting sick but I guess you can’t win ‘em all.

When I first began to feel like I might be coming down with something, I tried to play the mental game to overcome the illness. We’ve all done it, the thing where we tell ourselves, sometimes out loud, that we’re not getting sick but just having a bad day for some other reason. I tried that, and it didn’t work.

Once I said, “I’m getting sick”, to my wife, I felt the bottom drop out of my health. I woke up the following morning feeling like I’d been run over by a truck. I made it into work for a bit, but could hardly stay upright and left to come home early. Once home, I did my best to get some work done in between drinking as much water as I could handle (I would have had orange juice but I didn’t have the energy to go to the store), sleeping and feeling sorry for myself.

When it came time to get in my run that evening, I was honestly not sure what would happen. I had to take a moment to TELL myself to get dressed and get it done. Even then, it took tons of effort. Once I made it outside and began to move my feet, I quickly discovered that my muscles were super sore. I have to figure that this was a result of partial dehydration and it did not go away as the run progressed. Run done, I ate dinner and went to bed. At about 4:30 AM, I awoke, unable to breathe with a headache the size of the planet and shivering. I took two Tylenol (1000 mg), a shot of Afrin in each nostril (something I NEVER do) and called my dog Annie up onto the bed to help get me warm (Danielle couldn’t do much as her baby bump was in the way).

The next morning, I felt marginally better than I had during the night, but still bad enough to stay home and not add my personal touch to the petri dish that is the New York City Subway. I did some work, once again, in between naps and dog walks and fluids.

Since I seem to be making a long story longer, I’ll skip ahead to today. I feel better. Not good, just better. My run last night was fantastic (considering the circumstances) and I am about to go and try a swim. So this is what I have learned.

No matter how hard headed you are or how hard-core you think you are, you cannot fight your body. Looking back, I wish I would have gotten a stock pot full of water and a big straw to put beside me so I could be more hydrated. I think I’ll have a bit more to say about this after my swim today and my planned outdoor ride tomorrow. All I know for now is that when I feel myself getting sick, I need to give in to it and begin treating my body as sick sooner, rather than going with the “out of sight, out of mind” theory of sickness management.

What do you do when you’re sick?