About three weeks ago I woke up feeling absolutely lousy. My body ached, I had the chills, my head felt like someone filled it up with cement, my throat felt like the fiery depths of hell. I was miserable, to say the least. As I mentioned in my brief life update last week, I was later in the week diagnosed with Bronchitis. YAY FUN. Not. At. All.

The good news is that A Z pak, an over dose of Vitamin C and rest zapped the miserable aches and pains of being sick. I was feeling better within a week.. But 3, going on 4 here soon, weeks later this cough seems to have decided to take an extended vacation in my lungs.

I am nearly half-way through training for Rock n Roll San Antonio…. I won’t lie. Last week I was all easy breezy, because I was feeling better and better every day. I thought I would be 100% by now.. Now, though… Now I’m starting to freak out a bit.

I KNOW that I can tackle the distance. It isn’t the distance I’m worried about. It’s the whole, respecting my body and PRing thing. I have huge goals for San Antonio, and I have huge huge huge training plans. I was counting on Training for RNR SA to give me a solid base to dive into Flying Pig MARATHON training immediately following recovery from San Antonio.

I’m just getting to the point where I don’t know what to do, exactly.

See, the first week I was sick, I didn’t run at all. I couldn’t. My entire body ached, I had a fever, I sounded like Darth Vader breathing. A big goose egg for week 1 of bronchitis. The following week I ran a 2 miler that I thought was going to kill me, and then I ran another 2 miler at the end of the week that ended in my coughing so hard I threw up. This last week I took it easy, I ran a mile at the beginning of the week and felt decent… So I decided I needed to at least try to get in a somewhat long run… I ran 5 slow miles that were 65/45 walking to running… I started coughing hard during the first 2 miles but then I began to feel like the cold fresh air was breaking up the gunk in my respiratory system. However, that only lasted until mile 4 and then I coughed literally the entire way through the last mile… If I wasn’t a mile away from my house I would have just stopped. Not even gonna lie.

I was coughing for hours straight after the run. Like, I couldn’t stop… My doctor of course isn’t a runner… So, I honestly only take his advice with a grain of salt. But, when I contacted him about my cough not getting any better and how I feel on a run he got in a huge huff! Telling me that running with bronchitis is a huge no-no, even if the majority of the symptoms have come and gone….

As runners, we tend to be a bit stubborn. Strong willed. Head Strong. Whatever you want to call it, we think we know our bodies better than anyone else does… Including trained professionals. I’m guilty of this. At warrior dash I was all “oh that twinge in my hip will work itself out over the course of the next 1,000 feet of elevation.” It didn’t work out so well that day, and I’m pretty sure it won’t end any better this go around.

I’m trying to be a smart runner. A healthy runner. I don’t want to do any more damage to my chest/lungs/respiratory system. I called Jason in Baltimore. Some of you may remember his name from his brief time coaching me before I left Maryland. I really wanted his take on things. His advice has steered me in the right direction since I’ve met him. However, his words only disappointed me. (Sorry. still love ya pal!)

As always, speaking to me in crazy running metaphors he said “fight or flight” in which I didn’t even hesitate to respond with “FIGHT”… After a good chuckle and a round of “a’ta girl” he told me that realistically, if I can’t get in my scheduled 10k without feeling like I’m dying this weekend, I may need to seriously re-evaluate my expectations for San Antonio.

Then he really leveled with me. Told me a horror story from when he ran NYC in 2010… How he had bronchitis and toughed it out through training and started coughing up blood at the last aid station and was later that day diagnosed with pneumonia. The only time he’s had the chance to run NYC and he didn’t even get to cross the finish line because (and I quote his words) he was “too damn stubborn and stupid to take a few weeks off in the peak of training” While a marathon is obviously a hell of a lot more taxing on the body than a mere half, he still got his message across to me crystal clear.

A finish is a finish. I still have huge goals that I completely plan on dominating, but I’m not going to disrespect my body to do so. I’m tired of ‘waiting’ for my body to cooperate. But, what else is there to do? Any advice is totally welcome! Actually, I beg of you! lol

In other news, this time tomorrow I’ll be on my way to the airport to fly to AUSTIN to go sign a lease on what is soon to be MY NEW APARTMENT IN ATX!!!