Posts Tagged ‘sick’

This has become surreal.  It’s been 9 long days since my last run and I’m still having deep chest coughing, so I don’t see me getting out for at least a couple more days.   I wonder if I should have gone to a doctor, but I guess it’s a little late now.  At least today I’ve got some voice back which is damn good, because I’ve got a 2-hour voiceover session tomorrow, a low-key one, thankfully, not one of those evil medical ones.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling sorry for myself and at odds with everything around me.  I don’t feel like doing anything, yet I’m bored senseless.  This would be the perfect time to design some new shirts (it’s been months and months!), but I don’t feel creative in the least.

Nick is in Las Vegas on a business trip, so I’m up to my own devices, which means watching reality show crap like back-to-back episodes of “Girls Next Door”, the show about Hugh Hefner and his three blonde girlfriends.  My favorite part is when he gives them something (he’s always giving them something) and he goes in for a kiss, you’ve never seen three girls try to avoid touching a pair of liver lips like his.  Can’t say I blame them.

Next on the schedule is Millionaire Matchmaker, where the star of the show, a “third-generation matchmaker” tries to hook up socially inept millionaires with gold-digging balloon-titted actresses.  It’s one of those feel-good shows because as poor as you are, you could never be as big a dick as anyone on it.

Beyond the garbage I’m visually ingesting, I had a freakout last night when I realized my first 5K of the season is in 3 weeks!  It’s going to take me a few runs just to get back where I was, not to mention the lost training time, so I’m pretty unhappy about the thought, because I had 4 sessions of speedwork planned and now I’ll be lucky to get in two.  Oh well, shit happens and this is mine.  At least it isn’t an injury, per se, so when this sick stuff finally goes, it’s gone.

And with that, it’s back to my place on the couch.  I just looked at the TV schedule and see my choices are rapidly dwindling.  Let’s see, what’s on at 10am?  Tyra, Maury, Rachel Ray…oh god, someone come shoot me, please.

I hardly know where to start, but because today is a huge milestone in my running life, I’ll begin with that.

One year ago today I bundled up in my new wind pants with pantyhose underneath, 2 longsleeve t-shirts, windbreaker, headband, gloves and spankin’ new running shoes to walk down to the park where I did this twice: 30 seconds walk, 30 seconds jog, 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes jog.

And that was the start of my love affair with running.

It’s exactly a year later and while I would love nothing better than to commemorate this powerful anniversary with a long, crazy run on what happens to be a freakishly warm day, I am instead sitting here in a nightgown at 4 in the afternoon, nursing the flu after having just bid farewell to the last of my weekend houseguests. And I am incredibly happy.

On the scale of life-affirming moments, my love for running was just about eclipsed this weekend when I looked around our apartment on Saturday night and saw our beautiful collection of friends from all different factions, deep in pockets of conversation and laughter and having a great time with each other.

I can’t tell you how lucky I felt during the night, as one-by-one, different friends approached me to say, “I love your friends, they’re so cool” to which I’d reply, “I know, you’re one of ‘em.” I swear, it happened at least 8 times.

So the party was a success beyond my hopes, everyone had a blast and even the bout of flu I’m dealing with has a silver-lining – I didn’t have much of an appetite all week so I’ve lost a few pounds which I wanted to do for racing anyway, so the gifts keep comin’.

I haven’t been sick like this in, well…ever, so I’m not going to hurry it, but I hope to get out for a run on Wednesday. In the meantime, I’m happy to remain housebound, contemplating friendship, a future of running and the joy that is my life.

That’s me. After that fabulous snowy run in the cold 2 days ago, I am officially sick. That afternoon I started getting chest rumbles, coughing and gooey stuff, then yesterday I had zillions of errands to do in the pouring rain so by the end of it I was a miserable phlegmy, hacking mess.

So, I didn’t run yesterday or today and tomorrow looks out, too. The good thing is, it falls on what should be a cutback anyway, so it’s not that big a deal.

It’s also well-timed because we’re having a big-ass party this weekend (Nick and my first with about 30 guests, gulp) and while I’ve been told I’m a great party guest, as a Hostess I’m insane, stressed and horrible. Think Linda Blair’s head spinning around. So everything but running is freaking me out right now.

I’ve never hosted a party this size, just small game-nights and what makes this one even more stressful (but wonderful), is that I invited 5 dear friends from NYC who will be staying with us. However, one is allergic to cats and we have a 20 lb. Maine Coon who sheds so much, it could fill a comforter.

Another friend is dealing with a final bout of radiation so needs a good bed and rest, so needless to say…I’m terrified!

But, on the other hand, I’m excited beyond belief to finally introduce my NYC friends to my Philly friends. Now people will know who I’m talking about and parts of my life will finally come full circle. That’s what’s keeping me from drinking Drano.

If all this wasn’t enough, I am also quite a nervous cook – feeding people doesn’t come naturally to me, so I’ll be making some easy dips and wraps, but relying on my good friend Trader Joe to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, our allergic-to-cats friend and his mate are Martha Stewart personified so I’ll have to make sure they are otherwise disposed while I stealthily open up boxes of appetizers from the freezer.

Major props to Nick, btw, who is making his downstairs office a perfect guest room for our allergic friend, including painting, re-organizing, installing a new toilet seat (not to mention suffering through my panicked bitchiness). My, but I love that man!

So, that’s the scoop. Wish I had some running news for you…oh wait, I do!!

I signed up for another 5K today, moving my race schedule up a bit. It’s the Adrenaline 5K in Haddonfield, NJ on March 15th. But wait, there’s more!

I’m also going to be doing the first Schuylkill Mile Time Trial on April 6th and will be joined by my fabulous forum friends (Hi Matt!) and possibly Lara, though I’m not betting on that one . This should be a wild run because I’ve never tried to run a mile as fast I can, ever! The good part is, it’s on a stretch I’m extremely familiar with and it’s mostly downhill. You can bet I’m going to be doing intervals every week from here on in.

But back to reality…no running tomorrow, then company comes on Saturday, so I’ll try to run before they get here. Otherwise, it’s more cleaning, shopping for supplies and hopefully no freakouts about missed mileage. After all, that is the least of my worries.