I'm Sick and Tired of...

...being sick and tired!

Last week, all I wanted to do after coming home was curl up in a ball and veg out, so I did.  Friday, I sneezed several times.  Saturday, I woke up with a sore throat and thought, "Oh, boy.  Here we go."  Sunday, more of the same, with coughing fits.  Oh, how I love sinus infections!

NOT. 

Monday, I went to the doctor and she prescribed antibiotics.  YAY!  I filled the script, went home, coughed a lot, and crashed.  Tuesday, I remained crashed and coughing.  Yesterday, I worked, coughed a lot, went home, coughed some more, and crashed.

Today, I worked, came home, and crashed, but not as hard.  And not as much coughing, but its power and persistence still takes me by surprise.  I've been able to put away some of the clean laundry. 

SOME of it. 

Everything else on my list looks like too much effort.  UGH.

The good news is I'm getting better.  I'm also getting antsy.  I want to DO something, but I don't have the oomph to do much, and if I do too much, I know I'll just be sick longer.

And my training program looks less and less possible as time slips away and I lie here and do NOTHING.  But I know training is no good if I'm not well enough.  If I have to, I'll just WALK the half marathon.  I've done it before.  But I don't want to!

Patience, patience, patience. 

But it's so HARD.

Mental Strength?

"I constantly remind myself that resting takes confidence.  Anyone can train like a mad man, but to embrace rest and to allow all the hard training to come out takes mental strength." - Ryan Hall

Well, this week, I must be really mentally strong!  Monday morning I ran 2 miles, and I could have been running in a sea of mud - just slogging along.  I hadn't slept enough, so I was tired and "hungry" all day and ate too much.

Tuesday I cross-trained - Pilates and aerobics.  I did some laundry.  Nothing spectacular.

Wednesday, I should have run again, but I made the executive decision to switch to the other alarm and stayed in bed another hour and a half - HEAVEN!  I didn't go for a walk at lunchtime.  I had a headache.  Meh.  When I got home, I went straight upstairs to bed.  I didn't go to sleep right away, but I sat and read a magazine.  No laundry.  No housework of any kind.  I just vegged out for a couple of hours then went to sleep.  Such decadence!!!

Yesterday, I got up early and ran three miles.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  It was easy.  It flowed.  I kept thinking, "I'm going too fast.  I have to slow down."  When I got home and checked my splits, I was right.  The second mile was a minute and five seconds faster than the first mile.  The third mile was thirty-two seconds faster than the second mile.

And yes, I was faster than my target training pace for the week.

Oops.

But for the first time in a month, running was effortless.  I'd been feeling as if I were running uphill in all directions, but yesterday, going uphill was easy, and there was the sweet tug of gravity on the downhill side.

This morning I cross-trained, didn't walk at noon, and vegged out again after getting home.  Oh, the mental strength I exhibited!

The plan for the morning is six to eight miles.

We'll see how that works out tomorrow.

My Favorite Christmas Present

After buying new living room furniture this fall, we sort of agreed to not buy each other Christmas presents, but I actually kind of got a late Christmas gift from That Man. 

I was getting dressed yesterday morning and making exasperated noises at the ceiling fan lights in the bedroom.  Now, please note that I have told him over and over that the sockets for the light bulbs in that fan are going bad (one doesn’t work at all, one makes the light flicker), plus one bulb just blew the night before.  So, out of 4 60-watt bulbs, one was working, and one was fitfully flickering on and off.  I was making the aforementioned noises, and That Man asked what was wrong.

I pointed at each dark bulb in turn and said, “That socket doesn’t work at all, that bulb is burned out, and that socket only works sometimes.”

“Would you like me to get some LED bulbs for it?”

“Well, that won’t do any good if the sockets are bad.”  (Snark.  Snark.)

When I got home last night and turned on the bedroom light, I was nearly BLINDED!  My word!  All four bulbs blazed forth in all their LED glory!  He had gone out and replaced all four bulb sockets, upgrading from Bakelite to porcelain, and replaced two of the bulbs with pricey LEDs.  WHOA.  The bedroom has stadium lights now.  I can SEE in there.  I hadn’t realized just how dark it was until it was fixed.

Now THAT’S my favorite Christmas present!!! 

The Secret of Happiness

"...the true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life..."
          - William Morris

My Great-aunt Ruth.  That's who I thought of when I read this quote.  I want to be like her when I grow up!